Must-see committee: House panel gears up for another Hope Florida discussion

The 2025 legislative regular session is drawing to an end, but the House’s investigation into a $10 million “donation” from health care giant Centene to the Hope Florida Foundation shows no signs of slowing down.

The $10 million infusion into the foundation, part of a larger Medicaid settlement with the giant managed care plan, and how the money found its way to political committees dedicated to defeating Amendment 3 to legalize cannabis in Florida, has eclipsed most other issues being debated in the halls of the Capitol this year. 

The lengthy committee meetings, which have left House Health Care Budget Chairman Alex Andrade “flabbergasted,” have become must-watch viewing, even for those with no interest in health care.

While other legislative panels have concluded their meetings for the session, the subcommittee is scheduled to meet twice this week — a four-hour meeting on Thursday and another early Friday morning.

Andrade has requested Mark Wilson, chair of Secure Florida’s Future; Amy Ronshausen, executive director of Save Our Society From Drugs; and Tallahassee attorney and Hope Florida Foundation legal counsel Jeff Aaron to testify during Thursday’s meeting. Aaron has said he has a prior engagement and won’t be able to attend.

The House hasn’t published an agenda for Friday’s meeting.

In addition to asking the trio to testify, Andrade sent out letters to six people, including Wilson and Ronshausen, requesting financial documents, correspondence, and other information.

Wilson, Ronshausen, and Florida Hope Foundation President Josh Hay were asked to provide the committee with all documents, memos, emails, correspondence, and text messages, grant applications and awards, and correspondence with James Uthmeier, Jeff Aaron, and Mohammad Jazil.

James Uthmeier is DeSantis’s former chief of staff, who helped steer the agreement, Andrade says, and also headed the governor’s anti-pot efforts; most of the $10 million appears to have been steered to DeSantis’ campaign against last year’s marijuana legalization citizens’ initiative.

Uthmeier has subsequently been appointed by DeSantis as state attorney general. He has contended that he done nothing wrong and that he was not involved in the settlement.

Aaron and Jazil are Republican private attorneys who have worked closely with the DeSantis administration over the last several years on legal actions.

The letter sent to Jason Weida, DeSantis’s sitting chief of staff, requests “any and all documents, memos, emails, correspondence, call logs, and text messages” related to Hope Florida Foundation by any current or former employee, including Uthmeier, involving any of the following: Secure Florida’s Future, Mark Wilson, Frank Walker, Save Our Society from Drugs, Amy Ronshausen, Agency for Health Care Administration, Jeff Aaron, Mohammed Jazil, and Josh Hay.

Andrade sent AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris a letter requesting her agency provide emails, memos, and text messages related to the resolution of the Centene payment, including any alternative settlement agreements.

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Andrade, an attorney, requested AHCA provide the House all draft versions of the settlement agreement prior to the final agreement, that were produced or distributed for review and shared among any parties related to the settlement.

Everyone was asked to provide the information to the committee by April 25.

The Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times obtained a copy of an early iteration of the settlement agreement between Centene and the state that confirms the $10 million “donation” Centene made to the Hope Florida Foundation represented the return of taxpayer dollars stemming from Medicaid overpayments.

DeSantis says House Republicans are running a ‘smear’ campaign against him, First Lady

DeSantis administration officials have told the House that the money wasn’t taxpayer dollars.

Moreover, the governor has said the accusations of wrongdoing at Hope Florida are partisan in nature as First Lady Casey DeSantis is mulling a potential gubernatorial run to replace her husband, who is hitting his term limits.