Subsidies for sale: How the governor and the Legislature politically profit off the state budget

Many of Florida's elected leaders have taken five- and six-figure campaign contributions from donors who are about to get millions of dollars in taxpayer money through the next state budget.

Photo credit: DXR

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In the middle of the “Human Services” section of the Florida House of Representatives’ draft budget, there are a pair of matching earmarks that would steer a combined $800,000 to regional elder-care agencies serving senior citizens in St. Petersburg and Tallahassee.

The money would enable the two elder-care agencies to buy AI-enabled ceiling lights that can sense when someone falls down in their home and send an emergency alert to a caretaker. Such “smart lights” are made by Nobi, a European startup that has raised more than $40 million from venture capital investors and is lobbying Florida lawmakers on both funding requests.

Nobi is not only a new company. It is also a new campaign contributor.

In early December — about one month before the beginning of Florida’s 2026 legislative session — records show that Nobi put $100,000 into a political committee controlled by lobbyists the company has hired in Tallahassee.

Nobi’s lobbyists seem to have spent that money strategically. Four days later, the lobbyist-controlled political committee distributed $100,000 to six members of Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

About two thirds of that $100,000 was split among the four lawmakers who agreed to sponsor the smart light budget requests: Reps. Adam Anderson (R-Palm Harbor) and Jason Shoaf (R-Port St. Joe) and Sens. Nick DiCeglie (R-Indian Rocks Beach) and Corey Simon (R-Tallahassee).

The remaining third was divided between the two lawmakers who chair the appropriations committees that oversee the Human Services section of the budget: Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) and Sen. Jay Trumbull (R-Panama City).

This is not to say that these proposed appropriations — which could swell to as much as $1.1 million before the new state budget is finalized — are a bad idea or a waste of funds.

Representatives for both of the elder-care agencies that would manage the programs — the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas and Advantage Aging Solutions, which serves north Florida — say the sensor-equipped lighting systems could literally save lives. Falls are one of the leading causes of death among elderly Americans and funding from the state would help more seniors afford the technology.

But it is yet another example of how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and many lawmakers serving in the Legislature politically profit off Florida’s roughly $115 billion budget. The governor and legislators routinely cash five- and six-figure checks through political committees that can accept donations of unlimited size from donors who receive millions of dollars in taxpayer funding through the budget earmark process.

It’s an ugly conflict that makes it virtually impossible to be sure whether budget projects are truly being picked on their policy merits — or whether the subsidies are simply being handed out based on who has the right lobbyists or makes the correct campaign contributions.

The Nobi earmarks are by no means unique. Dozens of similar examples dot the draft budgets proposed by both the House and Senate.

Florida lawmakers are scheduled to return to Tallahassee next week to begin resolving the differences between the two draft spending plans. The special session — called after the Legislature failed to pass a budget during its regular session, which ended in March — is currently scheduled to run from May 12 through May 29. A new budget must be in place by July 1.

Here’s a sampling of some of the other projects that will be in play as the House and Senate begin their final budget negotiations.

A classical charter school in Jacksonville

The Senate budget includes $2 million (and the House budget has $1 million) to install a new turf field at Jacksonville Classical Academy, a charter school chaired by apartment developer and Republican donor John Rood.

Rood has cultivated close ties with GOP leaders across dating back to at least former Gov. Jeb Bush — whose brother, former President George W. Bush, once made Rood the U.S. ambassador to The Bahamas.

Current Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature have already put at least $9 million into Rood’s charter school over the last three years — while also allowing the GOP megadonor to help write state laws governing classical charter schools.

Records show Rood and his development companies have made more than $300,000 in state-level campaign contributions just over the past year — including a $25,000 donation to Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula).

Road widening from Davenport to Haines City

The House budget includes $2.5 million (and the Senate budget has $1.5 million) to buy right-of-way needed to widen Power Line Road, a north-south corridor in a rapidly growing part of Polk County southwest of Walt Disney World.

The funding has been formally requested by Polk County government — but emails obtained through public records requests show that project is also being pushed by lobbyists for Cassidy Holdings, a major housing developer in the region. DeSantis and the Legislature put $7.5 million into the project last year, too.

At the same time, records show that a real-estate entity linked to the Cassidy Organization put $750,000 this fall into a political committee controlled by a campaign strategist. That political committee has in turn distributed the money to other state politicians and political committees — including recent donations of $50,000 and $100,000 to Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Dover), the chair of the House Budget Committee.

It’s worth noting that the full budget request is for $5 million — which means this earmark may double during final budget negotiations, a process known as “budget conference.”

Ear guards for deputy sheriffs

The House budget includes $2 million (and the Senate budget has $500,000) to buy noise-suppressing earbuds for police officers to wear during loud operations.

The earbuds are manufactured by a company called Starkey, which is based in Minnesota and makes hearing aids and ear-protection equipment. Florida lawmakers have allocated $2 million in each of the last two budgets buying products from the company.

Starkey’s owner and founder is William F. “Bill” Austin — who has become a major Florida political donor in recent years.

Records show Austin has donated at least $180,000 to Florida Republican leaders over the past year — including $50,000 to House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami) the day before the session started.

This is another line item that could double during budget conference, as the full ask is for $4 million.

Emergency response data analytics

The House budget includes $2 million (and the Senate budget has $500,000) for the state Division of Emergency Management to buy data analytics software from a company called Peregrine Technologies.

Founded by a former Palantir executive, Peregrine makes data-management platforms primarily for law enforcement and emergency response agencies. Florida lawmakers signed off on $3 million in spending for a similar project in last year’s budget.

Peregrine is another company that has recently become a big campaign contributor in Florida: Between late November and early January, the company put $125,000 into a political committee controlled by its lobbying firm. That political committee, which also collects money from other clients, has in turn been spreading the funds between the governor and various lawmakers — including $60,000 to DeSantis.

This is also another line item likely to swell in conference; the full request is for $4 million.

Science centers, submerged plants and startup companies

There are myriad other examples.

The Senate budget includes $850,000 to continue expanding the Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach, a venue that has received millions from the state in recent years amid personal lobbying by longtime GOP donor Howard Cox.

The House budget has $925,000 for a coral-growing project in the Florida Keys involving a well-contected vendor called Aquaticus Plants whose partners include John Miklos, another longtime donor to Florida Republicans and a frequent gubernatorial appointee.

And the House budget includes a combined $500,000 for a pair of start-ups — one that makes lighting-strike detection systems and another that sells soil-stabilization technology for road construction — backed by Caplin Ventures, a private investment firm in Jacksonville with close ties to key Republican leaders.

All three line items are far more likely to get bigger rather than smaller during budget conference.

Then there are the examples we’ve already written about here on Seeking Rents:

• An education and propaganda company connected to Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and current U.S. Ambassador to Israel, is lobbying for nearly $1.5 million to develop curriculum for Florida public schools to use under a new law requiring students go through anti-communism instruction. The lobbying comes as a related Huckabee company has been showering tens of thousands of dollars on key legislators, including the project sponsors and the lawmakers in charge of the K-12 education section of the budget. The House currently earmarks $750,000 for the project.

• A politically plugged-in start up promising to turn landfill garbage into industrial gas is asking for another $4 million to subsidize a project in a rural community in central Florida. ReaSYN Technologies has already received at least $5 million from Florida taxpayers — and donated more than $500,000 to Florida politicians, including at least $100,000 each to Gov. Ron DeSantis, House Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton. The House and Senate budgets both have $2 million for the project so far.

• A foundation created by Freddie Figgers —a controversial telecom entrepreneur, Ron DeSantis appointee, and frequent Florida campaign contributor — wants $2 million to spend buying tablet computers produced by one of Figgers’ companies and distributing them to at-risk youth and senior citizens. The Senate currently sets aside $350,000 for the project, while the House allocates $1 million.

$50 million for a billionaire-owned baseball team

And here’s a big one that could become a major flashpoint before all is said and done.

The Senate spending plan sets aside $50 million for new construction on the campus of Hillsborough College.

The vague backup documents don’t identity any specific capital projects. But the request was filed one day before Hillsborough College entered into a preliminary agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays to build a $2.3 billion baseball stadium on the college’s main campus.

And a recent presentation prepared by Hillsborough County staff said that the Rays are angling for $150 million from the state for “rebuilding Hillsborough College” (plus another $30 million for transportation infrastructure serving the site).

The earmark is believed to be a personal priority for DeSantis, who has been selling the Rays stadium plan hard. The new principal owner of the Rays — billionaire developer Patrick Zalupski, the founder of Dream Finders Homes in Jacksonville — has been one of the Florida governor’s most important fundraisers in recent years.

The House budget doesn’t yet include any funding for the project — which seems likely to be one of the very final line items resolved this year.