Saying “Florida was DOGE before DOGE was cool,” Governor DeSantis on Monday ordered the creation of a statewide task force akin to the federal Department of Government Efficiency, now being led by billionaire Elon Musk. 

“We are creating a state DOGE task force that will implement a multiprong approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat and modernizing our state government to best serve the people of Florida in the years ahead. This will be a one similar to a federal DOGE,” Mr. DeSantis said in a wide-ranging press conference.

Ahead of Florida’s legislative session set to begin next month, Mr. DeSantis said he wants to eliminate a net 740 state government positions while bolstering shortages in highway patrol and corrections officers. He also seeks to abolish 70 unnecessary boards and commissions that employ more than 900 positions. He acknowledged that the latter will require legislative authorization.

Another task of the new statewide DOGE will be to appoint an independent review and audit to study efficiency and effectiveness in financing at state universities while also eliminating any DEI initiatives that may have crept in under a different name.

“This is the DOGE’ing of our state university system,” he said. 

Mr. DeSantis noted that Florida does not have to go as far as the federal DOGE to uncover waste because it has been conducting regular audits. However, he said Florida would benefit from leveraging AI the way the federal DOGE has done. 

“The one thing that I think that they’re doing that we need to incorporate is to utilize and leverage technology like artificial intelligence to be able to police the payments and the operations and the contracts,” he said.

Florida has had a Government Efficiency Task Force since 2006, when voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring members to meet every four years “for the purpose of developing recommendations to improve governmental operations and reduce costs.” 

The task force, comprised of 15 members, is supposed to develop recommendations for improving governmental operations and reducing costs. The most recent task force, convened Feb. 2, 2024, is mandated to complete its work within one year. Mr. DeSantis said the new task force will sunset in one year “following completion of the mission.”

Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Reynolds also signed an executive order launching a DOGE-style task force to improve effectiveness and efficiency in state government. The group will have 180 days after its first meeting to provide its recommendations.

Mr. DeSantis said that since he took office in 2019, Florida has already paid down 41 percent of the state debt and increased its rainy-day funds by $9.4 billion. Florida has reduced its annual budget, including the elimination of $3.8 billion from the budget last year. Mr. DeSantis has proposed a $115.6 billion budget for the coming fiscal year. 

While Mr. DeSantis enjoys a majority Republican Legislature to pass his initiaves, many of his administrative appointees have left for other pursuits, including the state’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, who is now America’s attorney general; Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, who is serving as interim president of Florida International University; and CFO Jimmy Patronis, who is resigning at the end of March to run for the congressional district seat vacated by Representative Matt Gaetz. 

During his remarks, Mr. DeSantis touted his wife Casey DeSantis to replace him after he is term-limited out of office next year. The support came in response to President Trump’s endorsement last week of Congressman Byron Donalds for a potential run at the post.