by Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
August 28, 2025
Florida TaxWatch is calling for annual efficiency efforts to be enshrined in statute.
The business-oriented nonpartisan group points to earlier such efforts, like in 2006 when Florida voters added to the Constitution an efficiency task force to convene every four years, and, earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ creation of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DeSantis’ executive order establishing DOGE sunsets in March 2026, “leaving continuity uncertain across administrations,” TaxWatch said in a report, calling the local government audits “music to our ears.”
TaxWatch advocates for new laws requiring the governor to “include explicit efficiency and cost-saving items, informed by the Auditor General, [the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability], the [Government Efficiency Task Force], agency inspectors general, state agencies, and credible outside institutions such as Florida TaxWatch, and would require the Legislature to consider these items during appropriations.”
The constitutional amendment, which contained other language related to budgets, passed with more than 59% voter approval. It established the efficiency task force.
“Florida TaxWatch firmly believes that, if government efficiency is important enough to the taxpayers to be enshrined in our state constitution, then it should be important enough to the legislature to be enshrined in Florida Statutes,” TaxWatch wrote.
Despite every-four-year audits, “Recent cycles have shown diminished scope and public tracking,” TaxWatch said.
DeSantis’ executive order followed efforts by President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk to look over government contracts and spending.
“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,” Florida TaxWatch wrote.
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