An influential fiscal watchdog group is urging state leaders to pass a "Florida Government Efficiency Act."
Florida TaxWatch's vice president and general counsel, Jeff Kottkamp, says it would create constant pressure to prevent wasteful spending.
"These agencies, just government in general, they kind of go on autopilot and they tend to do things the same way they did it the year before," Kottkamp said. "The whole idea with putting this government efficiency concept in law and acting on it every year is to make that part of the exercise."
Florida TaxWatch releases an annual list of budget appropriations it finds questionable.
Florida already has a Government Efficiency Task Force that issues recommendations every four years. And Gov. Ron DeSantis created a temporary Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, task force.
The statute would require the governor's annual budget recommendations to include cost savings and efficiency measures. The Legislature would be required to consider them.
State agencies would have to submit quarterly reports on their progress in implementing any passed recommendations.
Representatives of the governor's office and House Speaker Daniel Perez didn't respond to questions about the idea.
Katie Betta, spokesperson for Senate President Ben Albritton, said Albritton hadn't seen the proposal but would "certainly take a look."
She pointed to Albritton's past support of governmental efficiency measures: "Together we are building on Florida’s extensive track record of fiscal responsibility and running to the fight for a government that is even more lean, efficient, accountable and transparent," he wrote in an April op-ed.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
