State-Level DOGE Programs Take a Different Approach to Efficiency

Here's the. next part of our (unplanned) three-part series on how the second Trump Administration has already moved the needle in the states. First, we examined what the slashing of federal funding to the states would mean for state budgets. Next, we addressed how federal anti-DEI efforts have emboldened their state counterparts. And today, we’ll take a look at all the DOGE-like government efficiency efforts that have popped up in the states over the past couple of months. (Luckily, tariffs are outside of my state GR purview.)

As you are most likely familiar, President-Elect Trump announced that Elon Musk would lead a government efficiency initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce federal spending. President Trump established DOGE on Inauguration Day via executive order and has expanded the group’s scope with a series of subsequent orders. 

Even before DOGE was officially established, governors jumped on the DOGE name to market their own government efficiency efforts. However, unlike Musk’s sledgehammer approach at the federal level, state DOGE-like initiatives have emphasized a lighter touch. One reason is that these initiatives are not the start of a new political party taking over a state, as most of these governors have been in power for years. Additionally (as we’ve emphasized many times), states need to balance their budget, which means squeezing out every efficiency they can find during lean economic times. 

Iowa Gov. Reynolds (R) echoed that sentiment in her State of the State address, telling lawmakers “We were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing.” But that didn’t stop Gov. Reynolds from signing an executive order a month later establishing her own Iowa Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force. The Task Force is similarly led by a local business leader and focuses on three broad goals: maximizing return on taxpayer investment, leveraging emerging technology, and further refining workforce and job training programs.

Iowa is one of five states to establish DOGE-like groups through executive order. Florida Gov. DeSantis’ (R) EO establishing the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force is the most notable and likely to be the most aggressive in mimicking its federal namesake. Gov. DeSantis asked Florida DOGE to “abolish an additional 70 boards and commissions” this year. Louisiana Gov. Landry (R) established a Fiscal Responsibility Program in December, and New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte (R) made the creation of the Governor's Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) one of her first actions after being sworn in. Oklahoma Gov. Stitt (R) signed an executive order establishing the Division of Government Efficiency (DOGE-OK), which will have a chief DOGE adviser with full access to agency budgets, operations, and IT systems to carry out their responsibilities. Several additional states have set up legislative committees with DOGE-like objectives, including Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. 

Some common themes have emerged from these groups. First, they’re avoiding the harsh rhetoric and hasty actions that have become the signature of  Musk’s federal effort. These are largely study committees, expected to make recommendations to the governor and legislature, who would then put those recommendations into action. Many have explicitly downplayed the job-cutting aspect of the efficiency effort. A member of the New Hampshire COGE told reporters, “It’s not really about taking the meat cleaver to things; it’s about finding efficiencies.” And the Chair of the Texas DOGE Committee said that the committee “doesn’t have the authority to go and terminate employees.” 

A second theme is leaning on technology to discover new efficiencies. In particular, DOGE-like committees and task forces in four states specifically cite the use of artificial intelligence. Gov. DeSantis said that Florida’s DOGE Task Force will “utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste.” How exactly the use of AI tools would be implemented is less clear. Finally, the DOGE groups in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma have set up online portals where residents can suggest their own efficiency measures.

But while we largely anticipate state-level DOGE groups to act as helpful marketing tools in red states, if the federal DOGE brand goes sour, states might ditch the branding just as quickly. On the other hand, the aggressive actions taken by the federal DOGE could be used as cover for states taking similar actions. For example, North Carolina’s Select Committee on Government Efficiency, established to examine “state and local government operations for inefficiencies, waste, and constitutional violations” is spearheading investigations into DEI policies. And local governments could be in the crosshairs of these state-level efficiency programs. Florida’s DOGE Task Force is tasked with looking into “local government expenditures by utilizing publicly available county and municipal spending records to expose bloat within local governance.”

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This article appeared in our Morning MultiState newsletter on May 11, 2025. For more timely insights like this, be sure to sign up for our Morning MultiState weekly morning tipsheet. We created Morning MultiState with state government affairs professionals in mind — sign up to receive the latest from our experts in your inbox every Tuesday morning. Click here to sign up.