Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Governor Kim Reynolds signed an executive order on Monday morning creating an Iowa “Department of Government Efficiency” task force.
Reynolds plans to appoint up to 20 business executives and local government officials to the task force. She’s already named the leader of the group. It’s Emily Schmitt, the chief administrative officer and general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield.
Reynolds describes this “Iowa DOGE” effort as the next step to her state government realignment plans which merged, consolidated and eliminated a number of state operations. She says the goal is to make state government run like a business, so the task force will examine potential efficiencies in Iowa local government.
An account called “Iowa DOGE” has been created on X, formerly known as Twitter, to seek public input. Once the task force has its first meeting, Reynolds says she’ll expect its report 180 days later.
Reynolds says her task force will not have the same kind of powers Elon Musk and his team have had to implement immediate changes in the federal government. Reynolds will review the report from the Iowa DOGE task force and compile a package of recommendations for the legislature NEXT year.
Reynolds says government isn’t a family business and she won’t rule out layoffs in state or local government if that’s in the task force’s report.
