Editor's note: This story was originally published by The Florida Trib

Florida lawmakers approved significant new guardrails Friday for the multibillion-dollar emergency fund that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration used to construct and operate the sprawling immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Less than two weeks after the Florida Trib reported that newly released documents showed the DeSantis administration had burned through more than a million dollars a day on the makeshift tents-and-trailers facility, both chambers of the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to add new limits on the fund, including mandates that the executive branch regularly report spending and seek legislative approval for certain expenses.

The measure known as SB 7040 was the final bill lawmakers voted to send to the governor’s desk during the 2026 regular session, which has been marked by intraparty tensions over legislative independence from the governor.

The documents obtained by the Florida Trib revealed the Florida Division of Emergency Management – the state agency that spearheaded the construction and operation of the Everglades site – had formally requested a $1.49 billion grant from the federal government, underscoring the staggering scale of spending of taxpayer dollars on federal immigration enforcement – largely out of public view and with little oversight by state lawmakers.

FDEM Executive Director Kevin Guthrie has acknowledged that the agency has spent $573 million on immigration enforcement since the creation of the emergency fund housed in the governor’s office in 2022, which empowered the executive to spend prodigiously without needing express approval by the Legislature.

Over the past four years, lawmakers have transferred a total of $4.77 billion into the emergency fund, though Guthrie told lawmakers that his agency has actually spent about $1.8 billion more than that, fueled by other federal reimbursements to the account.

Among the vendors who quickly inked multimillion-dollar deals with the state to build the Everglades facility were companies whose owners are major Republican donors to political committees for DeSantis, President Donald Trump and other GOP candidates.

“You can’t change what has already happened,” said Republican state Sen. Ed Hooper, who sponsored the bill. “But yes, we expect and we’re demanding that we have more knowledge, more reporting, more transparency.”

Some guardrails – but immigration spending can continue

Lawmakers allowed the time-limited emergency fund to expire last month, temporarily leaving the governor without the authorization to spend on emergencies. In reauthorizing the fund, lawmakers are reviving what critics still label as a “slush fund” for DeSantis – but with new limits that will rein in how the money can be spent and on what.

“Emergencies demand speed,” said Republican state Rep. Griff Griffitts, who sponsored the measure in the House. “They also demand discipline.”

Under the bill, which the governor has the power to veto, money in the fund can be used for natural, manmade and technological emergencies declared by the governor – which lawmakers said could include public health emergencies as well as additional spending on the Everglades facility.

But if the governor extends a state of emergency declaration, the executive branch would have to get approval from the Legislative Budget Commission to use the funds – though that requirement could be waived for spending on manmade and technological emergencies if the chair and vice chair of the commission agree to approve the spending.

In Florida, a state of emergency declared by the governor can not last for more than 60 days unless renewed by the governor. The spending on the Everglades facility was enabled by an emergency declaration related to immigration that DeSantis first issued on Jan. 6, 2023 – and has extended 20 times since then.

The bill would also require that any federal reimbursements be held in a separate account within the emergency fund, a provision meant to help lawmakers keep tabs on the different streams of funding at a time when state officials and the federal government have given conflicting accounts about whether Florida will ever be reimbursed for the costs of the South Florida detention center.

“We shouldn’t be giving more money and more latitude and more discretion when we were led astray,” said Democratic state Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis.

Under the bill, FDEM would also be required to submit a report to legislative leaders each quarter detailing the fund’s cash flow, year-end balances, a list of all inventory and assets purchased and an itemized accounting of all pending invoices.

“We want to make sure that we know where those dollars are going,” Hooper said.

Kate Payne is The Tributary’s state government reporter. She’s spent her career in nonprofit newsrooms in Florida and Iowa and her reporting has run the gamut, from interviewing presidential candidates on the campaign trail to middle schoolers in the lunch line. Kate has won awards for her political reporting, sound editing and feature writing and was named 2024 journalist of the year by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Kate’s previous newsrooms include the Associated Press and WLRN Public Media in Miami. Her stories and photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR and PBS, and her reporting on the death penalty has been cited in a filing in the U.S. Supreme Court. She can be reached at kate.payne@floridatrib.org. The Tributary is a nonprofit newsroom producing high-impact government accountability and investigative journalism in the public interest. Based in Jacksonville, our mission is to shine a light on systemic problems and solutions, hold those in power accountable, and focus on under covered topics through collaboration with other news organizations and the community.