TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — More than two years into Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ongoing emergency declaration of a “border crisis,” Florida’s fiscal watchdog agency hasn’t audited any of the expenses and contracts issued under the order.

That’s despite a state law requiring such oversight if an emergency is extended for more than one year, meaning there should have been two annual audits by now for a declaration made in January 2023.

Officials with the auditor general point to the lack of a central repository for such contracts and bills and a shortage of staff to conduct the audits.

But lawmakers in both parties slammed the revelation, which comes as concerns are being raised about the lack of oversight and transparency over the millions of dollars the state is paying private contractors to build the migrant detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz in the middle of the Everglades. Once complete, it is supposed to house up to 3,000 detainees a day at a cost of $450 million a year.

“It seems to me they are supposed to be auditing these expenses as they come up,” said former state senator Jeff Brandes, a Republican from the St. Petersburg area who has been openly critical of the detention center. “That’s basic accountability 101.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando, one of several Democratic Party lawmakers suing the state after being denied entry last week to inspect the temporary tent city on the Tamiami Trail, said the absence of oversight “speaks to the public’s deep distrust toward government.”

“The frustrating reality of the DeSantis administration is there is no oversight and the bodies that are supposed to provide that oversight are not staffed enough,” Eskamani said. “This is totally irresponsible and allows DeSantis to operate without any accountability.”

It’s why she and other lawmakers took matters into their own hands to inspect the detention center, she added.

“We’ve had to stretch our oversight muscle. No one else is going to do it.”

DeSantis’ original order declaring illegal immigration a statewide emergency, signed just days after he was sworn in to his second term, allowed him to send the Florida National Guard, Florida Highway Patrol, Fish and Wildlife officials and other resources to the Texas border with Mexico. He’s also used emergency orders to spend money on flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and California, and to intercept migrants trying to come ashore in the Florida Keys.

That order was renewed in 60-day increments more than a dozen times.

On June 2, DeSantis again extended the order for 60 days due to a “large influx and number of illegal aliens” remaining in Florida, stating that the “ongoing crisis continues to strain local resources and requires the continued coordination, direction, and resources of the state.”

Within days of the governor signing that extension, work on the Everglades detention center began as state officials tapped an emergency response fund the Legislature approved several years ago for DeSantis to use at his discretion.

“The governor has incredible latitude using these emergency funds,” Brandes said, explaining why these audits need to be done promptly.

The law is two simple sentences: “Once an emergency exceeds 1 year, the Auditor General shall conduct a financial audit of all associated expenditures and a compliance audit of all associated contracts entered into during the declared emergency. The Auditor General must update the audit annually until the emergency is declared to be ended.”

But Derrick Noonan, a spokesman for the Auditor General, said there are no audit reports that focus exclusively on emergency expenses. As written, the law passed in 2021 “implicitly included every expenditure and contract entered on a Statewide basis under an emergency order,” Noonan said.

“As there was no central repository for such contracts or expenditures, our approach was to examine such contracts and expenditures during the course of scheduled operational audits of every entity audited by my Office,” Noonan said. “To date, no issues regarding expenditures or contracts related to any emergency order have been noted.”

Noonan added a new law that will take effect in January “crystallized” the department’s responsibility, by clarifying that “contracts and expenditures implicated by this provision are those made by the Executive Office of the Governor or appropriate executive agency, and that all contracts and expenditures related to the emergency must be reported to the Legislature.”

The department’s plan going forward will be to audit those contracts and expenditures as they are reported to the Legislature, Noonan said.

Bruce Jeroslow, general counsel for the Auditor General, said all departmental audits include a review of the contracts and expenditures related to emergency orders.

For example, a recent audit of the Department of Health showed it had 32,644 expenditures totaling $13.3 million under executive orders declaring a state of emergency. The auditor general reviewed 29 of those expenditures totaling $1.175 million and found they were reasonable and necessary.

“This has been our audit approach since the legislation’s enactment in 2021,” Jeroslow said. “We have faithfully attempted to accomplish what seemed to be the intent of the legislation with the limited resources available to us.”

However, he said the Auditor General has not conducted a stand-alone audit of the Division of Emergency Management, the agency incurring most of the charges under the immigration emergency order, since the law took effect in 2021. Nor do they appear to be in any operational audits, either.

“The Auditor General is currently engaged with the Executive Office of the Governor and Division of Emergency Management and may not comment on an ongoing audit,” Jeroslow said.

Any work papers and notes related to an audit are considered privileged communication and are not a matter of public record, he said.

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