You have to wish Florida State and County governments implemented aggressive DOGE programs in Florida.
Gov. DeSantis has jumped on the bandwagon, but will his program actually work, or just be the basis for bragging about low hanging fruit. Remember, he jumped on the election integrity bandwagon, setup a department and the first appointee mysteriously died after Lake County election activists met with him and informed him of evidence they found in just Lake County. DeSantis brags about low hanging fruit like catching 15 felons who voted, and the current manager is not responsive in my opinion.
If you go to Doge.gov or the @DOGE X account, you will see a constant flow of new waste, fraud and abuse spending and almost immediate shut down of the questionable spending items, including contracts, use of Federal Credit Cards, etc. I suggest you send links from those DOGE almost daily posts to your favorite State legislators and local City Councils. Right now, Lake County has an Inspector General within the Clerk of Courts Dept. and they are not effective to this retired operational auditor based upon my opinion.
Here is a simple DOGE finding just reported by just one Agency's DOGE task force.
When I wasthe Chair of the internal audit committee of the Lake County School District, it was reported that the District was paying thousands for a software product for teachers, but then analysis found that hardly any of the teachers used it. It seems bureaucrat managers think of a "good" idea and spend money on services that is not used by many, similar to the above DOGE findings about Microsoft software licenses.
Below is DeSantis's press memo on his new DOGE like initiative, and below that is a link to his full executive order for it.
Vance
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Florida House Rep. Tiffany Esposito has filed a bill to create FLOGE or Florida DOGE. It is HB 305 as described here: https://www.wptv.com/news/state/lawmakers-push-for-state-level-florida-doge-inspired-by-federal-efficiency-efforts
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Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Florida DOGE Efforts
Florida DOGE to Further Eliminate State Government Waste, Save Taxpayers Money, and Ensure Accountability in Florida
TAMPA, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the creation of the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) task force, which will work to further eliminate waste within state government, save taxpayers money, and ensure accountability in Florida.
“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,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “It 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.”
Under Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, Florida has the lowest number of government workers per capita in the country yet provides better services at a lower cost than any other state of comparable size. Since Governor DeSantis took office in 2019, Florida has continually cut government and trimmed waste:
- Florida has eliminated dozens of unnecessary boards and lifted needless regulations.
- We’ve saved billions for Floridians year after year, including $3.5 billion in spending last year.
- Florida has paid down 41% of state debt and increased our rainy day funds by over $9.4 billion.
The Florida State DOGE Task Force will implement a multi-pronged approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat and modernizing our state government to best serve the people of Florida. It will also utilize AI and new technologies to identify waste and noncompliance. The task force will serve a one-year term which will sunset following the completion of the term. Florida’s DOGE will:
Eliminate Bureaucracy
- Florida will abolish an additional 70 boards and commissions this year.
Review Colleges and Universities
- Florida will conduct a deep dive into all facets of college and university operations and spending and make recommendations to the Board of Governors and State Board of Education to eliminate any wasteful spending.
Further Examine State Agencies
- Florida will utilize AI to supplement ongoing efforts to review operations at our state agencies and identify more ways to cut unnecessary spending and eliminate bureaucracy.
Audit Local Governments
- State task force will look into local government expenditures by utilizing publicly available county and municipal spending records to expose bloat within local governance.
Return Unused & Surplus Federal Dollars
- Florida will aid DOGE’s federal efforts to save taxpayers’ money by returning unused or surplus federal dollars allocated to the state.
Read the enacting Executive Order here.
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