Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a Florida DOGE task force Monday that will aim to slash government waste in the state.

In a press conference in Tampa, DeSantis said the new task force will help streamline the government and “eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy” to ensure tax dollars are used efficiently.

DeSantis praised the Elon Musk-led Department of Governmental Efficiency in Washington while saying Florida has already been on a similar track.

“We were DOGE before DOGE was cool,” DeSantis said.

“A state DOGE task force that will implement a multi-pronged approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat and modernizing our state government to best serve the people of Florida in the years ahead,” he added.

DeSantis wants to eliminate 740 state government positions, but also add positions in other state agencies in need of more staff like the Department of Corrections and Florida Highway Patrol.

The governor said the task force will review more than 70 state boards and commissions to potentially eliminate them. He hopes the task force will eliminate 900 positions in addition to the 740 positions he is initially proposing to cut.

“A lot of people have never heard of any of these things, but they’re there,” DeSantis said. “We’ve examined the budgets, we’ve examined appointments, vacancies, the mission, trying to assess whether the mission’s still relevant, whether it overlaps with other boards or authorities, whether it has become obsolete over time, and there are some that actually serve their purpose.”