Florida voters could soon decide to scrap the lieutenant governor’s office and birth a new Cabinet post tasked with sniffing out government waste, thanks to a bold constitutional amendment filed Thursday, February 27, 2025, in the state House.
House Majority Leader Tyler Sirois (R-Merritt Island) and Rep. John Snyder (R-Stuart) dropped HJR 1325 just days before the legislative session kicks off Tuesday, aiming to reshape the state’s executive lineup and put it to a 2026 ballot test.
The proposal would axe the lieutenant governor gig—currently vacant after Jeanette Nuñez bolted last week to helm Florida International University as interim president—and replace it with a “commissioner of government efficiency.”
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This new watchdog would wield power to “audit, investigate and report on fraud, waste and abuse” across the executive branch, local governments, and special districts. It’s a muscle-flexing move amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to tighten Florida’s fiscal belt, spotlighted by his Monday tease of a “state DOGE task force” eyeing 900 state jobs, university budgets, and 70-odd commissions.
If lawmakers greenlight HJR 1325 with a 60% supermajority in both chambers, it’ll hit the 2026 ballot, needing the same voter thumbs-up to pass. The plan maps out a transition: by March 2027, the Legislature would tap the first efficiency czar, who’d serve until the post goes up for grabs in the 2028 election. Meanwhile, it’d kill off the Government Efficiency Task Force, a 2006 voter-approved relic DeSantis says is past its prime.
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The timing’s no accident—Florida’s been sans lieutenant governor since Nuñez’s exit, and DeSantis plans to name a replacement post-session. But Sirois and Snyder’s pitch could render that moot, betting voters will trade a No. 2 for a waste-buster instead.
DeSantis, fresh off touting his DOGE-inspired review, didn’t tip his hand on HJR 1325, but its overlap with his efficiency crusade suggests synergy. The task force he flagged Monday aims to mirror the federal DOGE vibe—think Elon Musk’s belt-tightening ethos—only homegrown.
Scrapping the lieutenant governor, a post with roots in 1868 and a $137,000 salary per the state’s latest budget, could signal Florida’s ready to rethink tradition for results.
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For now, it’s a legislative long shot with a tight clock—session ends in May, and ballot measures need polish by February 1, 2026, for signature verification. If it flies, 2026 voters will weigh a leaner, meaner state government. If it flops, DeSantis’ pick will still fill Nuñez’s shoes. Either way, Florida’s executive suite’s in for a shake-up—and the public’s got the final say.
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