A bill making it easier for lawmakers to control administrative spending was introduced to the Florida legislature by Republican State Rep. Tiffany Esposito.
She said the bill would pave the way for a Florida DOGE, or “FLOGE.”
The Florida department would be similar to the department currently run by tech billionaire Elon Musk at the federal level.
The Florida DOGE would look to improve the state’s efficiency by looking at three specific things:
A cost-benefit analysis from new regulations.
A mandatory eight-year expiration date for outdated rules.
And expanded legislature oversight on agency rule-making.
“We were DOGE when nobody was even talking about it,” DeSantis said. “Before it was even cool to do. We’ve worked hard to make this government as efficient and effective as possible.”
The Florida bill proposal comes as DOGE looks to cut more federal jobs.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump called on Musk to be more aggressive in finding cost-cutting solutions.
Not long after the DeSantis news conference, Rep. Anna Eskamani released a response that said in part: “This is the same Governor who has squandered millions defending unconstitutional laws, inflated his budget with unnecessary election police forces, and funneled taxpayer dollars into partisan electioneering. He has no credibility when it comes to improving government efficiency.”
Meanwhile, DeSantis on Monday got a question about who should replace him in the governor’s mansion when his final term ends.
While Trump said he would support Southwest Florida Rep. Byron Donalds if he runs, DeSantis took a shot at Donalds.
“Byron has not been a part of the results we’ve seen in Florida,” DeSantis said. “I’ve said we need someone who could build off the success in Florida.”
He was also asked about his wife, Casey, and the potential of her running.
DeSantis said the only person who would do a better job as governor than him was his wife.
Neither Donalds nor Casey DeSantis have made an announcement.