Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order Monday launching the Iowa DOGE task force to find new ways to cut government spending, following President Donald Trump’s creation of a Department of Government Efficiency in the White House.
Reynolds said the task force will have three broad goals: maximizing return on taxpayer investment, refining workforce and job training programs, and leveraging technology like artificial intelligence. Reynolds said she will also ask the task force to look for efficiencies at all levels of government.
“So, we need to work with the federal government. We need to work with local government, figure out how we can streamline all of our processes, and if there’s duplication happening, well, guess what? Then that’s a cost to the taxpayers,” she said.
Iowa DOGE is tasked with making recommendations for streamlining government. Unlike the White House DOGE, Reynolds said Iowa’s version won’t have access to employees’ personal information or have the power to make changes at state agencies.
Unlike the White House DOGE, Reynolds said Iowa’s version won’t have access to employees’ personal information or have the power to make changes at state agencies.
She said the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt and needs to try something different.
“So, I don’t know what their processes are out there,” Reynolds said. “In Iowa, we have a different process.”
She appointed Emily Schmitt, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Sukup Manufacturing, to lead the task force.
Schmitt previously served on the Governor’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and led Reynolds’ Child Care task force. She said Iowa DOGE will have an X account and website where Iowans can share their ideas for making government more efficient.
“I trust that the outcome of this task force will tangibly be felt by all Iowans when they interact with their state government,” Schmitt said. “And Iowans, we need to do this with you, too.”
Reynolds also encouraged everyone to get involved.
“We welcome everybody to the party,” she said. “This isn’t my party. This is Iowa taxpayers’ party.”
Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, already submitted recommendations to the task force. He wrote in a letter to Schmitt that education and health care are the two biggest costs in state government.
“Any serious DOGE would start by looking into the lack of accountability in the school vouchers program,” Zabner wrote. “Another important area would be the delivery issues and the cost overruns associated with the privatization of Medicaid.”
Governor seeks to build on previous government efficiency initiatives
Reynolds has led efforts in recent years to trim spending by proposing, and signing into law, bills that cut the number of state agencies from 37 to 16 in 2023 and eliminated about one-third of state boards and commissions in 2024.
She said her government reorganization saved $217 million in 18 months, surpassing the four-year savings estimate.
“And our government isn’t just smaller, it’s better,” Reynolds said. “Getting a medical license recognized used to take 65 days — today, it takes three. Unemployment case rulings used to take three months. Now, it takes 11 days.”
Reynolds said she initially shrunk state government without laying off employees, instead cutting 600 open positions. But she said she won’t rule out layoffs going forward.
Reynolds said overall, she and the Legislature want to keep state spending in check to help ensure their tax cuts are sustainable and to pave the way for more cuts in the future. She said the task force looking into local government efficiencies could also help lay the groundwork for property tax relief.
What happens next?
Reynolds said the full list of 15 to 20 task force members has not yet been finalized. She said it will include business leaders and some local government officials.
The executive order says the task force must have its first meeting within the next 60 days, and deliver a public report of recommendations within 180 days of that first meeting. Reynolds said she can then include the recommendations she likes in her proposals for the 2026 legislative session.
