DeSantis creating ‘DOGE Task Force’ to examine Florida spending, efficiency

DeSantis announced the measure at a news conference Monday, where he outlined what the task force will be looking into

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed an executive order to form what he’s calling a “DOGE Task Force” to look at state spending and efficiency.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed an executive order to form what he’s calling a “DOGE Task Force” to look at state spending and efficiency.

DeSantis announced the measure at a news conference Monday, where he outlined what the task force will be looking into.

“We are creating a state DOGE task force that will implement a multi-prong approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat and moderning our state government to best serve the people of Florida in the years ahead,” the governor said.

DeSantis said his administration has been performing similar initiatives since he took office in 2018 but said the task force will operate similarly to Elon Musk’s federal DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency.

The Florida version will last for one year, expiring on March 31, 2026, and will utilize tools like artificial intelligence to examine operations, payments and contracts in the government and make sure tax dollars are used efficiently, DeSantis said.

A major component of the initiative will subject universities to independent review and audit to study efficiency and effectiveness of operations and financing, DeSantis said.

“This is the DOGE-ing of our state university system, and I think it’s gonna be good for taxpayers and it’s ultimately gonna be good for students as well,” DeSantis said.

In addition to doing a deep dive of all facets of university operations and spending the task force will be examining staff and certain subjects. DeSantis has made eliminating what he calls DEI from university courses a priority while in office.

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“If you wanna do some of this, go to Cal-Berkeley, go to some of these other places,” DeSantis said. “Some of the ideological studies stuff, we just want to prune that and get that out and we want to make sure that these universities are really serving the classical mission of what a university should be and that’s not to impose ideology, it’s really to teach students how to think and to prepare them to be citizens of our republic.”

DeSantis said the Florida DOGE effort will also aim to eliminate hundreds of jobs and positions on state boards, saying he wants to shut down around 70 boards.

“There’s hundreds of these things, a lot of people have never heard of any of these things but they’re there and we’ve examined the budgets, we’ve examined appointments, vacancies, the mission, trying to assess whether the mission’s still relevant, whether it overlaps with other boards or authorities, whether it has become obsolete over time,” DeSantis said. “And there were some that actually served their purpose, so they did what they had to do, maybe they issued a report, and then you get it off the books.”

DeSantis said he’s also hoping to have local municipalities comply with audits, possibly through legislation.

“We wouldn’t do it permanently, it would be like a year, like they’re doing federally, but for the next year DOGE teams can show up, and they can show up at the county, and they can audit and they can use AI to be able to do some of the things that we’re seeing at the federal level,” DeSantis said. “I think that’d be really healthy, I think people would probably be surprised at some of the things that the money is being spent on.”

State Democrats blasted the plan.

“Ron DeSantis needs to shut his damn mouth,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement Monday. “Republicans have been in total control of Florida’s government for nearly 30 years, and he wants to talk about government waste?”

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