The leaders of Florida’s health care and child welfare agencies will stay in their jobs after the Senate voted Tuesday to confirm them.
Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris and Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. But they weren’t confirmed last year as a scandal involving the transfer of Medicaid settlement money to a political committee swirled, were approved over the objections of a smattering of Democrats.
Under state law, appointees who are not confirmed two years in a row by the Senate must leave their position.
The Senate also confirmed a third person, Jeff Aaron, to the board of the Public Employees Relations Commission, despite his involvement in the scandal.
Aaron represented the Hope Florida Foundation, the nonprofit organization tied to an initiative led by First Lady Casey DeSantis. The group’s board in 2024 approved the transfer of $10 million they received as part of an atypical settlement involving Medicaid funds to two other nonprofits.
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Those organizations then gave the money to a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ then-chief of staff who later was named Attorney General. That political committee used the funds to campaign against two ballot measures that would have legalized recreational marijuana and installed a right to an abortion in the state constitution.
House Republicans investigated the matter last year and found the Hope Florida Foundation had no bylaws and didn’t submit its federal tax returns on time. The House took no formal action but a Leon County grand jury was convened, but so far not indictments or reports have been issued from that probe.
“The $10 million, which was intended to support our most vulnerable Floridians get access to health care through Medicaid, was instead laundered through the Hope Florida Foundation,” Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said. “Mr. Aaron helped orchestrate and advise on all of this … senators, this is not okay.”
Aaron, though, was confirmed on a 26-10 vote.
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Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who chairs the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee that oversees the confirmation process, defended Aaron as merely giving legal advice.
“Mr. Aaron … provided answers as best he could given the fact he can’t violate attorney-client confidentiality,” Gaetz said. “I don’t think you can hold a lawyer responsible for actions of his client that you don’t like.”
The Hope Florida Foundation is a direct support organization under DCF, and Harris was DCF Secretary at the time of the transfer of the Medicaid funds to the group that were then used for political campaigns.
Democrats slammed Harris for letting the scandal happen on her watch, but it was Sen. Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, who excoriated her for not properly investigating a failing womens’ shelter in his Volusia County district despite his pleadings.
“I actually told her to leave my office and never be in my face again,” Wright said. “I have no trust in Shevaun Harris. She let us down. The women of Volusia County deserve better.”
But Harris was confirmed on a 32-5 vote.
For Hatch’s confirmation, Gaetz listed a series of concerns he had with her leadership of DCF: policies over parental rights that seem to differ from district to district and the lack of follow up audits to ensure proper financial management.
But because she pledged to address those issues Gaetz still recommended her to be confirmed, and Hatch was approved on a 33-4 vote.
