Government Efficiency Is Not Something We Should Do Every Four Years reviews Florida’s government-efficiency machinery—the constitutional Government Efficiency Task Force (GETF), the Local Government Efficiency Task Force (LGETF), and the Governor’s 2025 DOGE initiative—and argues for moving from episodic efforts to a standing, statute-driven process embedded in the annual budget. The GETF was placed in the state constitution in 2006 to convene every four years and deliver proposals to improve operations and reduce costs; its work window is limited to a single year per term, and delivery goes to the Legislative Budget Commission, the Governor, and the Chief Justice.
Across four GETF cycles, output and follow-through have varied. The 2011–12 term logged 98 proposals and helped spur streamlining of business permits and an enterprise IT overhaul, with documented savings such as reduced unemployment benefit weeks from permitting changes. The 2015–16 term produced 29 proposals with an estimated $2.14–$12.14 billion four-year savings range. The 2019–20 term drafted 42 proposals but, amid pandemic disruptions, the final report and savings estimates were not publicly tracked. The 2024–25 term issued only three proposals focused on agency long-range program plans. In total, 172 proposals have been identified across GETF terms with headline estimated savings of $15.14 billion, but recent cycles have shown diminished scope and public tracking.
At the local level, the LGETF (created in 2020) surfaced practical fixes—standardizing local election schedules, modernizing public-notice practices, consolidating duplicative reporting, aligning deadlines with municipal fiscal years, centralizing submissions, studying FRS migrations for local pensions, and capping business-occupancy license fees—illustrating how recurring, nuts-and-bolts changes can yield efficiency without fanfare.
In February 2025, Executive Order 25-44 established DOGE teams in the Governor’s office and within each state agency to hunt for waste, scrutinize questionable federal grants, and coordinate statewide reviews, paired with on-site local spending audits that began July 31, 2025. The order underscores daily discipline around efficiency but, like any order, it sunsets—on March 31, 2026—leaving continuity uncertain across administrations.
To make efficiency business-as-usual, Florida TaxWatch urges the Legislature to enact a Florida Government Efficiency Act by amending Chapter 216, Florida Statutes. The Act would require the Governor’s annual budget to include explicit efficiency and cost-saving items, informed by the Auditor General, OPPAGA, the GETF, agency inspectors general, state agencies, and credible outside institutions such as Florida TaxWatch, and would require the Legislature to consider these items during appropriations. Agencies charged with implementation would file quarterly updates documenting progress and verified savings to appropriations committees and the Legislative Budget Commission, creating ongoing accountability rather than four-year bursts.
Florida has proven ideas, demonstrated wins, and active tools; now it needs permanence. By embedding efficiency into the annual budget cycle—backed by transparent tracking and regular reporting—the state can convert sporadic initiatives into sustained savings and better service delivery for taxpayers.