Florida lawmakers approve recreated emergency fund — with some guardrails

By: Liv Caputo

Outlets: Florida Phoenix

Published: March 18, 2026

Words: 356

Last Updated: 2 days, 19 hours ago

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Florida lawmakers voted during their recently concluded regular session to recreate the state’s embattled disaster response fund — with some new guardrails.

The Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund can’t be used to purchase any more boats, aircraft, or motor vehicles, but they can be leased for a “short-time,” SB 7040 says. The Republican-dominated Legislature approved these new guardrails after the state’s emergency managers spent more than $573 million on immigration enforcement in three years.

The …

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