Attorney General Ashley Moody is taking legal action against the Biden administration for retaliation against Florida’s new law to prevent unions from exploiting workers. The action is over the federal government’s unconstitutional interpretation of a federal rule concerning collective bargaining rights resulting in a loss of critical funds for Florida. Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature passed SB 256, a landmark package that enables public workers, like teachers, to make more informed and deliberate decisions on whether to join a union and prohibits unions from forcing due withdrawals directly from employees’ paychecks. The Biden administration issued Florida an ultimatum, specifically over transportation workers—abandon the reforms enacted through SB 256 or lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. According to the Florida Public Transportation Association, the Biden administration’s actions threaten more than $800 million to the state of Florida.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Florida passed laws to protect workers from being strong-armed by unions. Biden, intent on driving our country into the ground, continues to try to force states to implement his bad policies. As long as I am Florida’s Attorney General, Washington will never decide how we run our state. We’re pushing back against this overreach to protect our state’s autonomy and Florida workers.”

According to the complaint for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief filed by Florida, the Biden administration is attempting to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding over an unconstitutional interpretation of the Federal Transit Act. Attorney General Moody is taking legal action to protect the state’s access to critical funding and its sovereign prerogative to regulate in the realm of collective bargaining.