TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis issued a statement applauding the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee’s favorable hearing of Senate Bill 1428, Procurement Procedures, which will require current and prospective contractors to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government. As a top priority of the CFO, last September he issued a directive bolstering transparency requirements for vendors that do business with the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Among a number of provisions, the directive required DFS review the country-of-origin  vendor survey that was issued in May, prior to entering into a new contract or approving vendor contract amendments. Senate Bill 1428 will move next to the Judiciary committee.
 
CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “For nearly a year now, I’ve been fighting for vendor transparency within our state’s procurement system to empower our policy leaders with as much information as possible on who we do business with. As it stands today, our state agencies and local governments who buy off our contracts don’t have a tool to identify this information. If the Legislature wants any information on which country tax dollars go to, we’re too limited. I applaud the Florida Senate for moving this important legislation forward today and thank you to President Simpson and Senator Wright for their hard work to help shed more light on how Florida tax dollars are used.”