DeSantis vetoes bill aimed at limiting corruption in office

Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times on Jul 1, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill intended to limit his officials from asking lobbyists and donors for campaign contributions while on the clock.

HB 1445, which passed with a single “no” vote in the Republican-controlled Legislature this year, would in part have prohibited state officials from using their position to solicit campaign contributions.

The legislation was in part a reaction to NBC News reports since 2023 that taxpayer-funded officials in his administration were asking lobbyists for campaign donations, raising ethical concerns. Lobbyists represent companies that receive contracts from the state.

At least some of those calls were made during traditional working hours, NBC News reported. A DeSantis spokesperson told the outlet it was “completely untrue.”

Spokespeople for his administration have justified state officials soliciting lobbyists for donations in their free time.

DeSantis, who had said he would veto the bill, did not address the issue in a memo Tuesday. Instead, he took issue with another provision in the bill, which required members of the state university system’s Board of Governors and various boards of trustees to either be a Florida resident or a graduate of the university they were appointed to represent.

DeSantis wrote that it was unconstitutional to place residency requirements on some of those board members, citing a 51-year-old Florida Supreme Court opinion.

The bill was the product of a legislative session that exposed long-standing rifts between the governor and the Republican lawmakers he has consistently bent to his will over the years.

House Republicans this year dug into DeSantis’ spending and governance, uncovering his administration’s diversion of $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation. One Republican lawmaker said that money then illegally ended up in a political committee controlled by the governor’s then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier.

An earlier version of HB 1445 would have prohibited state employees from collecting or soliciting contributions on behalf of a political committee.

Lawmakers also found that Florida taxpayers were paying for DeSantis officials to commute from homes hundreds or thousands of miles away from their headquarters in Tallahassee. The state’s top IT officials were living in Virginia and other states, racking up $56,000 in travel expenses.

HB 1445 would have prohibited those employees from being reimbursed for their commuting expenses.

The bill was sponsored in the House by then-Rep. Debbie Mayfield, a Melbourne Republican who switched from supporting DeSantis to backing Donald Trump in last year’s GOP presidential primary.

After she filed to run for a state Senate seat this year, DeSantis’ administration took the extraordinary step of ruling her ineligible to run for the seat because of term limits, which Mayfield said was payback for switching her endorsement. The Florida Supreme Court overruled the state in a unanimous decision.

“My goal was — and remains — ensuring that key roles in state government are filled by Florida-based leaders, not absentee figureheads,” Mayfield wrote in a text message Tuesday.

“We started the discussion and I look forward to working with the governor to find ways to ensure state government works efficiently, that our leaders are held to the highest standards of performance, and that Florida’s leaders are rooted in Florida and invested in our success.”

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