Governor Josh Stein wants to create his own government efficiency program.
His team says the proposed Impact Center will look a lot different than Elon Musk's DOGE initiative at the federal level. Stein is asking lawmakers for $20-million to fund the program.
His budget director, Kristin Walker, said the Impact Center will build on existing reviews of state agencies' work.
“We have been looking at efficiency. We've really been looking at bringing data and evidence into government," she said, "So, how do you know that that program is working? Is that the best program you could be running? Are other states doing it better? And how do we know they're doing it better? S,o we've been doing that on a much smaller scale with a number of state agencies, and so this would allow us to expand that work. It would allow us to bring in some outside experts.”
The state House created a government efficiency committee this year. And the state Senate is considering a bill this week that would create a new efficiency program in the state auditor's office to recommend budget cuts.