pass Medicaid expansion in 2015. Scott rejected the Medicaid expansion because of his renewed fiscal concerns, saying it is "hard to understand how the state could take on even more federal programs." Scott has been accused of having fueled an HIV epidemic while governor, by ensuring that Florida returned $54 million in unspent federal HIV-prevention grants and blocking $16 million in CDC grants to Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The effect of this rejection of federal funds combined with Scott's stance on Medicaid expansion has been described as "helping explain why the state’s HIV epidemic became almost peerlessly severe during Scott’s time in office", with the state accounting for 13% of the country's HIV diagnoses in 2017. Scott has opposed most federal grants due to his fiscal conservatism. Hurricane Irma Scott's handling of Hurricane Irma boosted his profile in advance of his U.S. Senate campaign, with The Hill writing that his "aggressive approach to Irma, which saw him order an extensive evacuation ahead of the storm and coordinate disaster relief efforts as the storm came ashore, has sent his political stock even higher" and that Scott's "preparedness has impressed Republicans and some Democrats." An investigation by WFOR-TV found that after Hurricane Irma, Scott ignored existing debris removal contracts and instead issued emergency contracts for hurricane clean-up efforts. Florida state officials sent an email to several companies on September 11 inviting them to hand in bids for debris clean-up by the next day. State officials believed new contracts were needed to speed up the removal process given the severity of Hurricane Irma. On September 13, state officials decided to use the services of MCM and Community Asphalt, firms owned by contributors to the Republican Party and Scott's campaigns. According to the television station, the emergency contracts cost $28 to $30 million more than the existing contracts. Immigration and refugees In 2010, Scott ran for governor as an immigration hard-liner. At the time, he favored similar laws as Arizona's controversial Arizona SB 1070 which targeted illegal immigrants, and criticized Florida lawmakers for not being tougher on illegal immigrants. Scott called for police to check individuals' immigration status. By 2014, PolitiFact wrote that Scott had "abandoned promises to get tough on illegal immigration." Over time, he moderated his views on immigration. In 2011, Scott opposed giving in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, but reversed course in 2014 and signed a bill giving DREAMers in-state tuition