TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference Monday to introduce a new task force to review and improve the government’s efficiency.
DeSantis said the new DOGE task force will help streamline the government and “eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy” to ensure tax dollars are used efficiently, according to News 6 partner WJXT.
“A state DOGE task force that will implement a multi-pronged approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat and modernizing our state government to best serve the people of Florida in the years ahead,” DeSantis said.
The state’s DOGE task force will be similar to President Donald Trump’s administration’s task force, led by Elon Musk, assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations.
DeSantis said he is proposing to eliminate 740 state government positions, but will add positions in other state agencies in need of more staff, like the Department of Corrections and Florida Highway Patrol.
Florida’s task force will be in place for a “limited amount of time” and its members will serve for one year, DeSantis said.
According to DeSantis, the task force will review over 70 state boards and commissions to eliminate them.
“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, and there are some that actually serve their purpose. So they did what they had to do. They maybe they issued a report, and so then you get it off the books,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said he hopes the task force’s work will help eliminate 900 positions in addition to the 740 positions he is already proposing to eliminate.
Moreover, DeSantis said public universities will be subjected to an independent review and audit to study the efficiency of their operations.
“We will conduct a deep dive of all facets of university operations and spending, including debt and financial management practices, and make recommendations to the Board of Governors to consider and implement pathways to eliminate any unnecessary spending,” DeSantis said.
Watch the full news conference below.
