ATLANTA — A bill described by Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones as the state’s version of the Department of Government Efficiency passed in the state senate on Monday, but it’s not without its opponents.
The Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025 was a priority for the lieutenant governor, who said Monday it mirrors “the great work President Trump is doing in Washington to create efficiency, reduce unnecessary spending and eliminate bureaucratic red tape across state agencies.”
“I look forward to the House taking up Senate Bill 28 quickly and joining the Senate to make the size and scope of government more efficient, while promoting the growth of businesses across our state,” Jones said in a statement.
Sponsored by Senate Republicans, the bill would set up new legislative oversight for state agencies by requiring that any agency rule or regulation with a more than $1 million budget impact would need to be re-approved by lawmakers every four years.
To determine the cost, agencies would have to perform economic assessments.
“Last year, we made positive changes to combat burdensome and costly regulations on behalf of workers and business owners all over Georgia,” Jones said in a statement. “As a business owner, continuing our efforts to promote deregulation and free our businesses from harmful government red tape will continue to be a priority. Our state initiative complements DOGE, President Donald Trump’s plan to create efficiency, while paring down unnecessary spending and eliminating bureaucratic red tape at the federal level.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- Family offering reward for answers in murder of Carroll County couple
- 3 people in stolen Range Rover killed after high-speed chase on I-75
- Child dead, 6 people injured in I-20 crash
While Jones called it the state’s version of DOGE in his announcement, with the announcement titled “Georgia Does DOGE,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Greg Dolezal, says it isn’t the same.
“What it doesn’t do is place any sort of new agency in place or grow government in such a way that there’s an agency over the shoulder of an existing agency,” Dolezal told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot.
State Democrats, however, said all the bill does is slow down how state agencies operate and give the state legislature more control over how they function, which could lead to cuts or potential elimination of the agencies themselves.
“As Democrats, we’re going to stand in the way. We’re going to fight. We’re going to continue to let the public know what the attempts are from the Lieutenant Governor as well as Republicans in the general assembly,” State Sen. Emmanuel Jones told Channel 2 Action News.
The bill was before the full Georgia Senate on Monday for its first full vote in the chamber.
DOGE is a federal initiative headed by Elon Musk with a stated purpose to overhaul the government in favor of budget savings and efficiency. Since beginning its work when President Donald Trump took office, it has faced multiple lawsuits over efforts to lay off federal workers in agencies including the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
