TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Three state officials integral to the Hope Florida saga whose confirmations were held up last year amid a House probe were cleared by the Senate on Tuesday to officially hold appointments made by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Shevaun Harris was confirmed, 32-5, as secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees that state’s Medicaid program. Taylor Hatch was confirmed, 33-4, as secretary of the Department of Children and Families, which oversees child welfare, where the Hope Florida program is based. And Jeff Aaron was confirmed, 26-10, to the Public Employee Relations Commission, which certifies unions and resolves labor and employment disputes.

The Hope Florida program was created by the governor and first lady Casey DeSantis as a conservative answer to welfare and is intended to get needy Floridians off government aid by connecting them with outside groups like nonprofits and churches. The program fell under heavy scrutiny last year after lawmakers began investigating the finances of the Hope Florida Foundation, a related charity housed in the Department of Children and Families.

In his capacity as the charity’s attorney, in 2024, Aaron advised the Hope Florida Foundation’s then-board chairman to approve two nearly-identical $5 million grant applications from nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors, according to the chairman’s sworn House testimony last year. Those nonprofits, known as “dark money” groups, then gave most of the money to a political committee controlled by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff that helped to narrowly defeat a popular ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.

Aaron has never publicly answered questions about his role in those transactions, even when he was questioned about it during a Senate panel discussion last month. The money originated from a $67 million Medicaid settlement. A Leon County grand jury probed whether any crimes were committed, but their findings have not been made public as of yet.

State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, rose in opposition to Aaron’s confirmation, citing the grand jury’s ongoing probe.

“Let’s be clear… $10 million that was intended to support our most vulnerable Floridians get access to health care through Medicaid, was instead laundered through the Hope Florida Foundation and given to political entities to spend on political ads,” Guillermo Smith said.

He added: “Mr. Aaron helped orchestrate and advise on all of this. Senators, this is not okay.”

Sen. Tina Polsky, whose questions Aaron did not answer in committee, also rose in opposition, saying, “He didn’t even claim [attorney-client] privilege. He just said, I can’t talk about that.” In the committee, Aaron had said he assumed he wasn’t “at liberty” to discuss the matter.

“The Hope Florida Foundation’s theft of taxpayer money has never been accounted for,” Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat, said. “Everyone else who testified before our committee, before House committees relied on the legal advice of Mr. Aaron.”

Polsky also opposed the confirmation of Harris, who admitted to the senator in committee that in hindsight, she wouldn’t have approved the Medicaid settlement that detailed the transfer to the foundation because of “how it has been perceived,” but not because the diversion of the money away from state coffers was wrong. Harris also admitted that state officials reimbursed the federal government its share of the entirety of the $67 million settlement, evidence that the state had doubts about its own claims that the diverted $10 million was not Medicaid money. Medicaid is mostly funded by federal tax dollars and is regulated by the federal government.

While Hope Florida has dogged Harris’ confirmation, it’s not the only issue.

Sen. Tom Wright, a Port Orange Republican, said he opposed her confirmation because of how she handled a 50-bed women’s shelter in his district, which “was in chaos.” He said he repeatedly asked Harris to inspect the facility and when she finally did, she told him she “found nothing” wrong.

“When she came and told me this false report, I actually asked her to leave my Senate office, and never be in my face again, because she did not do her job,” Wright said. “I hate to see that she’s going to get appointed to something else, because I have no trust in Shevaun Harris.”

Wright added: “She let us down. And the women of Volusia County deserve better.”

Hatch, who was confirmed as the Department of Children and Families secretary, helped develop the Hope Florida program several years ago when she served in other leadership roles at the department.

Sen. Don Gaetz, a Pensacola Republican, who runs the Senate Ethics and Elections committee that recommends the nominations to the full Senate for a vote, acknowledged Hatch’s answers regarding “the department’s relationship with Hope Florida” were not satisfactory to “some committee members.”

And while he did ultimately recommend Hatch, Gaetz had a laundry list of other concerns, including the department’s “inconsistent” practices regarding child custody. Gaetz has championed the case of Joy Zuraff, a mother whose daughter was removed from her care in 2024.

Gaetz said he had been pushing the department for family reunification, saying that two years apart was too long.

Zuraff’s daughter Kenlee has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and other organs. Body camera footage shows case workers accusing Zuraff of refusing medical treatment for her daughter, who was five years old at the time.

The case became the latest flashpoint in the state’s medical freedom debate centered on whether the state can mandate health care for children that goes against a parent’s wishes.

Zuraff’s brother and mother, though, defended the state’s actions to remove Kenlee from Zuraff’s custody, claiming Gaetz and other senators who have become involved do not understand the full context of the situation.

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