House snubs CFO’s audit office plan, proposes Legislature-run alternative

Back in December, CFO Blaise Ingoglia announced a push for an official Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO), through which he’d centralize auditing powers and activities he’s undertaken through the state’s DOGE initiative.

His GOP allies in the Legislature got in line. St. Petersburg Sen. Nick DiCeglie and Palm Bay Rep. Monique Miller filed bills (SB 1572, HB 1303) to codify Ingoglia’s plans in January.

Neither received a single hearing. Now, we may know why.

On Thursday, the House released its $113.6 billion proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27, and conspicuously missing from the spending plan is any consideration for Ingoglia’s FAFO plan.

Instead, the chamber is proposing a Florida Accountability Office, a powerful new agency that operates within and answers directly to the Legislature, not Ingoglia.

Gary Fineout of POLITICO first flagged the snub.

The plans for the Florida Accountability Office, which the House wants to launch with a $53.37 million earmark, date back to early April 2025, just over a month after Ingoglia and Gov. Ron DeSantis began rolling out the DOGE initiative.

At the time, House budget leaders — heading into a quarrelsome negotiation process with the Senate and Governor’s Office that led to months of additional meetings — were escalating scrutiny of state agencies amid concerns about wasteful spending and a lack of transparency.

The House State Administration Budget Subcommittee, then under the leadership of former state Rep. Vicki Lopez of Miami, advanced a measure to create the Florida Accountability Office. The bill cleared the House on a 112-0 vote a week later, but died on the Senate floor in June without being added to the 2025-26 budget.

Now it’s back.

What would the Florida Accountability Office do?

The Florida Accountability Office, as proposed, would serve as a spending watchdog agency within the Legislature.

It would carry powers to conduct audits, reviews, examinations, investigations and evaluations of government spending — as Ingoglia has done with county and city budgets in recent months, which he says has uncovered $1.9 billion in overspending so far — and recommend improvements in efficiency, effectiveness and fiscal management.

The new office would have four main units: the Division of the Auditor General, which would conduct financial audits; the General Accountability Division, which would run operational and compliance audits; the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which would undertake performance audits; and a Public Integrity Division, which would investigate complaints of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement or misconduct involving public funds.

Like Ingoglia’s proposed FAFO, it would have broad authority to inspect records and operations of public agencies and certain recipients of state funds, including access to confidential information when necessary, and legislative Committees could issue subpoenas to compel testimony or documents.

The Public Integrity Division would also review appropriations projects and refer cases to law enforcement, ethics officials, Inspectors General, or other oversight agencies when appropriate.

Leadership would be appointed by and accountable to the Legislature, including an Auditor General appointed by both chambers and other division heads selected under legislative rules or by agreement of the Senate President and House Speaker.

Rules for thee, but not for me

Ironically, while Ingoglia has been on a public crusade to make local governments more transparent and accountable, he has not held his own Office to the same standards of operation he expects others to meet.

As Florida Politics reported this week, Ingoglia’s Office ignored or took months to respond to questions and public records requests about his auditors’ travel expenses, his payroll and his plans to grow his operation.

Ingoglia’s Office also did not respond to questions about the delays.

While the FAFO bills haven’t gained any traction, another pair of bills (SB 1566, HB 1329) that Ingoglia supports by DiCeglie and Marco Island Republican Rep. Yvette Bennaroch have been advancing and would streamline county and city budget audits.