Gov. DeSantis creates Florida DOGE: Here's what it will do

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that he was creating a "state DOGE task force," inspired by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, part of President Donald Trump's administration.

DeSantis said this new task force would audit and review how local and state agencies are spending taxpayer dollars and that they've eliminated Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion initiatives. This takes force would also audit Florida colleges and universities to ensure they've eliminated DEI programs and to ensure they're offering classes beneficial to Florida students, DeSantis said.

What is Florida DOGE?

Gov. DeSantis spoke during a press conference in Tampa under the banner: Keeping Florida Efficient. There he announced that he was creating Florida DOGE, 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."

He touted the federal DOGE, which is led by Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, for the findings of alleged overspending, wasted money, and recommended reduction in the federal workforce. 

"We've worked hard to make this government as efficient and effective as possible," DeSantis said, referring to the State of Florida.

"One thing I think they're doing is to utilize and leverage technology, like AI (artificial intelligence), to be able to police the payments, and the operations, and the contracts that are done in government," he said.

DeSantis said DOGE would be in operation for 1 year.

What will Florida DOGE do?

Gov. DeSantis said Florida's version of the Department of Government Efficiency would audit local and state government at all levels, as well as state colleges and universities.

According to the executive order, each state agency will create its own DOGE team:

• Utilizing advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, as part of ongoing efforts to identify and eliminate unnecessary spending, programs, or contracts within the agency
• Identifying any pending or funded federal grant awards that are inconsistent with the policies of this State and should be returned to the American taxpayer in furtherance of the President’s DOGE efforts
• Recommending administrative or legislative reforms to promote efficiency, maximize productivity, and eliminate waste in state and local government, including recommendations to leverage modern technology and to eliminate the duplication of services, reduce fees, and cut overhead

These DOGE teams will provide updates to the Governor's DOGE Team on a monthly basis.

Eliminating boards and commissions 

Gov. DeSantis said he and his team have found over 70 boards and commissions at the state level that have been earmarked to be abolished. He said some of those boards have completed their missions, haven't met in years, or haven't appointed people to them in years.

He's asking the state to continue to audit boards and commissions at all levels.

Auditing Florida colleges and universities: ‘This is the DOGE-ing of our state university system’

Another mission of Florida DOGE will be to review the state's colleges and universities to ensure they're being "good stewards" with the tax dollars sent to them.

He said DOGE would look at college and university budgets to ensure they're "effective in operations and financing." He said it would also include reviews of school classes and staffing to ensure Florida students receive the "best education."

DeSantis said that would include ensuring education initiatives, specifically DEI, were eliminated and not simply renamed or reallocated somewhere else.

He said DOGE will look at school budgets to ensure they're "effective in operations and financing." 

"This is the DOGE-ing of our state university system," he said.

Auditing state agencies

Gov. DeSantis said the task force would also audit state agencies, ensuring DEI contracts were eliminated. He said it would also ask state agencies to look into AI to help audit spending and streamline government operations.

Auditing local governments

While touting that the state had allegedly spent less year over year on its budget, DeSantis said he does not think local governments have done the same. He admitted he wasn't 100% sure.

"I think there's been a lot of spending.I don't think the taxpayers have had a seat at the table…but, we're going to find out," he said, adding that the state would look at publicly available county and municipal spending records.