TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis has frequently praised Elon Musk and his efforts to find waste in federal government spending. He’s repeated how Florida was “DOGE before DOGE was cool” — a reference to the Department of Government Efficiency led by the billionaire.
But key Florida House Republicans are now calling out the DeSantis administration on spending and hiring decisions. They criticized one agency because it can’t tell legislators how many cars the state owns. Agency secretaries were found to be working remotely even though their main headquarters are in Tallahassee. And a House panel discovered one agency spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel expenses for four state employees who aren’t living in Florida.
Other budget panels are also asking questions about the number of vacant positions across multiple state agencies and whether those jobs can be eliminated.
The search for overspending is yet another sign of growing strife between the governor and the state’s GOP-led Legislature, tensions that have come to a boil this year.
“We are the guardians of the taxpayer,” state House Speaker Daniel Perez said during the opening day of the legislative session, when he called on members to explore state spending.
Perez has already countered DeSantis’ assertions that Florida has kept spending in check in recent years, although the governor last year used his veto pen to keep state budget levels relatively flat between 2024 and 2023.
So far, the initial inquiries represent a return to an era of legislative panels skeptical about actions of the executive branch. While some DeSantis agency heads would clash at times with Democratic legislators, it has been rare to see GOP lawmakers challenge top administration officials.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the House actions.
Amelia Angleton, a spokesperson for Perez, said, “He is interested in our budget subcommittees ensuring that the taxpayers are receiving value for what they spend and he’s encouraged subchairs to find savings and efficiencies in government.”
On Tuesday, a state House budget panel spent time sharply questioning a Department of Management Services deputy secretary over spending issues in that agency, such as four employees — including the state’s chief data officer who is paid more than $200,000 a year — who don’t live in Florida. DMS wound up spending nearly $60,000 on travel expenses for these employees, much of it to cover trips to Tallahassee.
The House State Administration Budget Subcommittee also questioned why Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis traveled to Paris late last year for a convention of lottery operators. That same committee a week ago went over an audit of DMS that raised questions about whether the state knows how cars it currently owns.
A different House panel — the House Government Operations Subcommittee — also on Tuesday advanced a bill ( HB 1445 ) that would bar any state agency head from working in a county outside of the agency’s home county. Such a restriction would apply to several top DeSantis appointees, including state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who just last week noted at a press conference he lives in Pinellas County, not Tallahassee.
“I don’t think we ought to be paying somebody travel expenses to fly down here once every two weeks to put out the fires he could have put out two weeks ago had he been in the office,” said state Rep. Griff Griffits, a Panama City Beach Republican.
State Rep. Vicki Lopez, the chair of the House State Administration Budget Subcommittee, agreed.
“The secretary of the Lottery lives in Orlando, the secretary of DMS lives in Miami,” Lopez said. “I see more and more people being called back to the office, and so I don’t see why they need to live anywhere. If you accept the job as the secretary, you should live here where your agency his housed.”
Florida does not generally allow state workers to work remotely, except for when they are sick or deemed to have specialized skills unavailable in Tallahassee. DMS Deputy Secretary Tom Berger told Lopez’ panel the four out-of-state employees were brought in to work on the state’s cybersecurity efforts. But he could not say whether there was an open search for the positions or how many people applied for them.
Berger also drew sharp criticism from Lopez after he said one reason DMS doesn’t have an up-to-date accounting of how many cars the state owns is reliance on other agencies to submit information.
The Legislature earlier this year sparred with DeSantis over immigration, and although they resolved their differences, there remain abundant signs of a strained relationship between the governor and legislative leaders. The same bill that would bar agency heads from living outside of Leon County also requires appointees of the governor to be U.S. citizens and Florida residents — a requirement that could derail appointments such as that of Scott Yenor to the University of West Florida board of trustees. Yenor, an university professor in Idaho, has come under fire for some his past comments including about women in the workplace.
