Kentucky version of DOGE advances. GOP sponsor said it promotes ‘fiscal responsibility’
A plan to create Kentucky’s own Office of Government Efficiency took another step toward becoming a reality Monday morning when it unanimously passed out of a Senate committee meeting.
Senate Bill 257 from Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, would mandate the state auditor’s office to conduct audits and reviews of state agencies. The office already has much of the power to do that, but the bill aims to give the office more muscle and money to do so. It also requires a yearly report on the matter.
“It’s been sort of left to the wayside for the last few administrations, and that’s really a matter of resources. There hasn’t been the staffing, there hasn’t been the funding available to do that kind of work,” Auditor Allison Ball said at the committee meeting.
The bill codifies the auditor’s duties to identify “inefficiencies, waste, compliance with law, and opportunities for cost savings.”
Tichenor told the committee her bill is part of a “continuing effort of fiscal responsibility.”
Tichnenor’s bill has been referred to by some in acronym form as “KOGE” due to similar goals as the new Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, often referred to as “DOGE.” That program, led by the world’s richest man in tech, entrepreneur Elon Musk, has stirred controversy in Washington. The group, staffed by several engineers from Musk’s private ventures, has worked to lay off a large chunk of the federal workforce, effectively shut down a massive government program and to offer widespread buyouts.
The bill, in its current form, would not usher in a similar style of fast-paced, disruptive change. It would empower the auditor’s office to review and audit programs, but the ability to appropriate and pull money back still rests mainly with the General Assembly.
“We’re kind of emulating the feds, and they’re going in wherever they want,” Sen. Mike Nemes, R-Shepherdsville told Ball, asking if that’s how KOGE planned to operate. “You alluded to that (these investigations) would be by request of?”
“Me,” Ball answered.
Why is a new department needed?
With the work already done by the auditor’s office, plus the legislative ethics arm of state government and a state oversight committee, all of which can freely investigate fraud and abuse with subpoena power, Sen. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, asked why a new department was needed.
“Why is it necessary to have a different office?” Herron asked.
Ball said the measure would give her office more teeth in accomplishing what it’s already statutorily charged with doing: “rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. It would just expand our ability to do this work, and it would expand it more clearly.”
Senate Bill 257 was amended by a committee substitute during the meeting. The substitute added language enhancing the auditor’s ability to check for “compliance with the law” under the auditor’s duties with the office, by clarifying and codifying her sweeping authority, for example, by giving her subpoena power to compel testimony or evidence.
The auditor and their authorized agents, if they “deem it necessary” for the purposes of an investigation, “shall have access at all times to, and may at any time examine any and all information, including but not limited to books, accounts, reports, vouchers, correspondence, files, records, information technology systems, databases, premises, money and property of any state agency or budget unit,” the new bill language reads.
Funding, staffing for KOGE
Ball said that she and Tichenor were not asking for any additional funds as of now — 2025 is not a budget year and typically lawmakers allocate far less money compared to even-numbered budget years. The auditor did indicate that she anticipated making a budget request next year. The bill includes an appropriation of restricted funds — generated within the auditor’s office — of more than $4.8 million from the auditor’s office to be used for KOGE.
Any additional staff hired for the effort would come from that pot of money, but she needs authority from the legislature to hire them. Ball said she currently has three full-time and three part-time staff doing this work. To fulfill what Tichenor’s bill requires, her current number of staff would likely need to be doubled — “I would imagine we probably would need to duplicate, at least, those numbers,” she said.
Another piece of legislation in the House has similar aims to Tichenor’s bill.
House Concurrent Resolution 50 was filed by House Republican T.J. Roberts, R-Burlington, to form a new 10-member task force: the Kentucky Discipline of Government Efficiency, or KY DOGE. That bill has not yet received a committee hearing.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 11:58 AM.
