ICYMI: State Workers Who Solicit Campaign Cash Could Face Criminal Charges Under Florida Bill

On April 14th, the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reported on HB 1445, which would prohibit state employees and officers from participating in political campaigns or attempting to use their position to influence an issue on the ballot — a practice frequently abused by the DeSantis administration in recent years. 

This report comes in the middle of the unfolding scandal around Hope Florida, the non-profit charity championed by Casey DeSantis where the DeSantis administration recently diverted $10 million in an effort to defeat citizen-led ballot initiatives. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier are under bipartisan pressure to answer for their continued abuses of power.

This is not the first time the DeSantis administration has been caught funneling state money into political campaigns. Last year, the Florida Democratic Party joined with advocates and residents to file three criminal complaints against the DeSantis administration and Florida Agency for Health Care Administration for using an official government agency (ACHA) for political campaigning — a clear violation of state law (F.S.104.31). To date, these complaints have gone unanswered. FDP has not received any communication on the status of these complaints from the State Attorney or Sheriff’s Offices in Leon, Orange or Hillsborough counties since they were filed in September 2024.

READ MORE: State workers who solicit campaign cash could face criminal charges under Florida bill — Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

• “It seems like we need to do more than just tap people on the hand,” state Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, said during the committee hearing last week. Some employees have been finding loopholes and “exploiting them,” Gantt said.

• DeSantis administration employees who solicit money for political campaigns or campaign for political issues while they are supposed to be doing their jobs could face criminal penalties under a proposal moving in the Florida House. The bill, HB 1445, appears to take aim at staffers in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration…

• “What this says is that whether it’s after hours or during hours, which is already prohibited, you cannot solicit funds, you cannot be engaged in the political campaign fundraising process,” the bill sponsor, state Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Melbourne, said during a House committee hearing last week.

• The bill could be considered by the full Florida House as early as Wednesday. So far, it has bipartisan support.