In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated Miss Florida organization's license as well as licenses from Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

[1][2] In December 2018, the Miss America Organization reinstated licensing for the Miss Florida Scholarship Pageant Inc., along with the organizations in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The first Miss America contestant to deliver a bilingual onstage question response onstage Equity & Justice Finalist Non-finalist Social Impact Pitch Award Aunt of Miss Ohio 2022, Elizabetta Nies Mary Sullivan, the longtime executive director of Miss Florida until her resignation in 2018, was arrested in 2022 and accused of stealing around $100,000 from the program from 2011–2018.

The arrest came after an investigation into past financial irregularities by the Board of Directors after her retirement.

She was accused of redirecting non-profit donations intended for use on scholarships to her own account, which she spent on personal matters such as maid service and dating sites.