Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Monday that creates a state-level Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) task force to eliminate waste in state government and safeguard accountability.
“I’m pleased to announce that we are launching a comprehensive initiative to continue to streamline our government and to continue to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, and to continue to ensure tax dollars are used in the most efficient way possible,” the governor said during a press conference.
DeSantis explained that, while Florida has already aggressively pursued eliminating bureaucratic waste and bloat since 2019, “we need to do more.”
“Florida was DOGE before DOGE was cool,” DeSantis stated, observing that his state “has paid down 41% of state debt and increased our rainy day funds by over $9.4 billion.”
“Our state DOGE task force will use AI to amplify our efficiency efforts, spearhead audits at our state universities and tee up the elimination of more than 70 state boards and commissions,” he announced.
The Republican governor said in a statement from his office that “Florida has set the standard for fiscally conservative governance, and our new Florida DOGE task force will do even more to serve the people of Florida.”
The task force “will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat,” the statement added.
Like President Donald Trump’s federal-level DOGE, the Florida task force seeks to end “bureaucratic bloat” through the use of “AI and new technologies to identify waste and noncompliance,” says a press release from the governor’s office.
The Florida DOGE, which will serve a one-year term that will sunset after the completion of the term, aims to:
- Eliminate bureaucracy, by cancelling 70 boards and commissions in the current year – in addition to the “dozens of unnecessary boards” already abolished.
- Review college and university “operations and spending” and recommend to the Board of Governors and State Board of Education areas of waste.
- Use AI to review state agency operations to “identify more ways to cut unnecessary spending and eliminate bureaucracy.”
- Conduct audits of local government expenditures to expose waste and bloat in local county and municipal governments.
- Direct Florida to help DOGE at the federal level to save taxpayers’ money by returning unused or surplus federal dollars allocated to the state.
Prior to the start of the state’s legislative session in March, DeSantis said, he hopes to cut 740 net state government positions. At the same time, DeSantis aims to increase law enforcement and corrections positions.
The governor said that, pending approval from the legislature, he also wants to cut 70 unnecessary boards and commissions that have hired 900 employees.
Additionally, DeSantis said the DOGE effort will examine ways to end property taxes in Florida.
“You buy a home, you buy land… and then, you’ve been taxed many times [on that]… is it your property, or not? Just for being on your property, you’ve got to write a check to the government every year?” he said. “A lot of people can’t afford that. That’s a big issue. We’re going to be looking at ways to bring people relief from that.”
The executive order also directs “each state agency” to “establish an Agency DOGE Team.”
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