Georgia lawmakers in the state senate passed a measure akin to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
On Monday, the Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025 advanced in the Georgia legislature. The news came just days after hundreds of outraged Peach State residents protested against DOGE during a raucous town hall held by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA).
In addition to requiring state bureaucracies to consider the economic effect of new regulations on small businesses, the DOGE-style bill would direct agencies to review and update hundreds of internal rules and regulations every four years, according to Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal, who is spearheading the legislation. The bill, also known as the REIGNS Act, additionally mandates that agencies provide economic reports to the General Assembly when major rules are proposed, requires officials to justify rules costing the state a million dollars or more over a five-year period, and contains provisions ordering that rules carrying a “large economic impact” must be ratified by the General Assembly before being enforced.
State senators passed the bill during a 33-21 vote along party lines. Lawmakers in the state House must now pass the measure before it can go to Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R-GA) desk for final approval.
Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, heralded the Senate’s passage of the bill in a statement that compared the initiative to Musk’s DOGE.
“The ‘Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025’ is mirroring the great work President Trump is doing in Washington to create efficiency, reduce unnecessary spending, and eliminate bureaucratic red tape across state agencies,” Jones said.
The growing legislative momentum for DOGE-styled reforms came as some Georgia constituents have expressed concern that President Donald Trump and Musk have utilized a “radical and extremist and sloppy approach” to slashing the size of government.
McCormick, who was first elected to represent Georgia in Congress two years ago, responded to those concerns this week by suggesting DOGE should take a slower, more surgical approach to cutting the bureaucracy.
Dolezal, who introduced the Georgia senate bill, has argued his legislation pursues DOGE’s goal of reducing unnecessary regulations and cutting government waste without the chaos and problems critics have accused Musk’s initiative of spurring.
“This bill really comes from the recognition that we do have a need at all levels of government to look at the rulemaking process,” Dolezal said. “Very often rules get laid on top of rules, and the original intent of the rule gets lost.”
“This bill is in the spirit of DOGE, but functionally, it’s very different from DOGE,” he added.
State Democrats begged to disagree.
“One person’s red tape is another person’s due process,” Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin told the Associated Press. “And when you take an axe to all regulations, irrespective of what’s in them, and you put political pressure on the agencies not to issue regulations that are in effect, you might be taking away some of your voters’ due process.”
Dolezal has argued the state’s regulatory environment is crushing small businesses, highlighting a social media post on Monday bemoaning that “111,899 regulatory restrictions” in the state have resulted in “a 7% price hike, 3,494 lost jobs, and contributed to 261,162 state residents living in poverty.”
Georgia isn’t the only state pursuing DOGE-linked reforms. Musk’s initiative has gained steam in Florida, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and New Hampshire, where lawmakers have established similar initiatives designed to cut waste and fraud and improve the efficiency of taxpayer funds.
WHAT IS DOGE? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
While critics have blasted Musk’s effort to lay off thousands of government workers and scrutinize sensitive federal programs for waste, a poll released this week showed DOGE holds popular support.
Nearly 70% of the public supported DOGE’s goal of cutting a trillion dollars from government spending, and 60% said they believe DOGE is “helping make major cuts in government expenditures.” People are less enthusiastic about Musk’s department gaining access to sensitive data, according to the survey, saying that DOGE shouldn’t access “Social Security numbers, addresses, and incomes.”