Trump has DOGE. Kentucky Senate votes to launch KOGE.
FRANKFORT — Inspired by Elon Musk's band of young engineers tasked with finding federal funding cuts, Kentucky Republicans are hoping to replicate their efforts in the Bluegrass state.
If passed in the General Assembly this session, Senate Bill 257 would establish the Kentucky Office of Government Efficiency in the auditor of public accounts' office. The office would be known as KOGE.
The bill passed largely on party lines in a vote of 32-6 Wednesday. The lone Democrat to join Republicans in supporting the bill was Sen. Robin Webb of Grayson.
Though not an actual department, DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency has come under fire from Democratic criticsi and lawsuits over the level of access the group has to sensitive information and cuts in funding and personnel — including firing some government employees.
DOGE maintains a running list of savings it has claimed to achieve online. However, the New York Times has reported the DOGE 'wall of receipts' has had to delete some claims that were in error.
Backed by primary sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, the bill would give KOGE the power to conduct performance audits and fiscal and operational reviews of state agencies to find 'inefficiencies, waste, compliance with law, and opportunities for cost savings.'
KOGE would also make recommendations about best practices for streamlining government operations and monitor their implementation. KOGE must report its findings to the governor and the Legislative Research Commission.
'This legislation builds upon our efforts to create a government that operates efficiently, delivers core services effectively and respects the contributions of hard working Kentuckians in order to operate a government that exists to serve them,' Tichenor said.
The Kentucky Senate's vote on the bill came after DOGE got glowing praise from Republican President Donald Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress. Billionaire Musk, the special government employee spearheading DOGE, also enjoyed applause from congressional Republicans during the speech. Meanwhile, some of the Democrats who attended invited federal workers who were fired as part of the U.S. DOGE Service's efforts to curtail the federal workforce by eliminating probationary workers.
During debate on the bill, Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, said invoking the name of the federal DOGE program 'was particularly concerning to me because of exactly how much upheaval that program has created.'
However, some Republicans rebuked the notion. Senate President Robert Stivers, of Manchester, said the auditor 'has no authority to fire anybody except who's in her office' or change laws.
Chambers Armstrong also added that she didn't believe the bill added new authority to the Auditor's office, as 'many of the provisions of this legislation are inherent to that office and have been exercised and often exercise to great effect and impact.'
Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, said before voting in favor of the bill that former Auditor Crit Luallen, a Democrat, notably exercised powers to do performance audits when she held the office between 2004 to 2012. He said similar efforts have lacked funding since she left the office.
Tichenor introduced her bill for KOGE a couple of weeks ago in the Senate. A Senate GOP press release at the time said the bill 'aligns with the broader national effort led by President Donald Trump to cut bureaucratic red tape and make government work for the people.'
Auditor Allison Ball, a Republican who currently holds the office in Kentucky, has expressed support for the bill and testified before a Senate committee with Tichenor.
'This legislation strengthens our ability to hold state agencies accountable and implement meaningful reforms to improve efficiency,' Ball said in a Senate GOP press release. 'Kentuckians deserve a government that operates responsibly, and SB 257 furthers that goal.'
The bill provides no funding for KOGE to hire staff but says Ball may seek 'additional funding through cost-saving initiatives and efficiency- related grants.'
Republican Daniel Cameron, a former attorney general who recently launched his campaign for U.S. Senate, said on X ahead of the vote that 'Frankfort is fraught with wasteful spending' and the bill was 'a sensible reform effort that will reduce the bloated size of government and hold the unelected bureaucracy accountable.'
Meanwhile in the House, Rep. T.J. Roberts, R-Burlington, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 50 to create a task force called the Kentucky Discipline of Government Efficiency, or KY DOGE. It's also an homage to Musk's DOGE, but hasn't gotten a committee hearing yet.
Musk and Trump have floated the idea of scrutinizing the amount of gold in Kentucky's Fort Knox. The United States Bullion Depository at the fort stores precious metal bullion reserves for the country. It's also audited every year.
The General Services Administration, which is one of the agencies DOGE is tracking, announced Tuesday it may sell off more than 440 buildings owned by the federal government in the months ahead. That list included federal buildings in Ashland, Bowling Green, London, Louisville and Pikeville.
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