The Republican leader in the Arizona Senate has compared a new committee to DOGE, the memorable organization established by President-elect Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — an acronym that shares its name with a dog-themed cryptocurrency backed by billionaire Elon Musk. Trump tapped Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to run the organization, which will operate outside of the federal government to recommend ways to cut government spending and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said that, unlike DOGE, his regulatory affairs committee was not created by the Executive Branch.
Instead, the committee, chaired by Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), will use the state Legislature’s power to focus on proposed bills to accomplish similar goals.
“Anything that has to do with red tape, anything that has to do with regulations, anything that has to do with fraud, government waste, government reform, all of those policies would be assigned to this committee,” Petersen said.
Petersen said he believes the committee will work closely with another committee of the same name in the Arizona House of Representatives established by Speaker-elect Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) and chaired chaired by Rep. Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale).
Petersen said the committee could focus on bills that have gained some traction at the Legislature in years that would make it easier to build housing by cutting local government red tape.
“I think if we have anything that has to do with time frames, licensing, those issues,” he said.
He also said the committee could also take up bills dealing with term limits for elected officials, though he did not specify which offices would be the subject of that legislation.
A Democratic proposal that would have asked voters to impose lifetime term limits on state legislators never received a hearing last year.
Petersen’s decision to establish the Regulatory Affairs committee comes after voters rejected Proposition 315, a measure referred to the ballot by Republican lawmakers that would have given the Legislature more oversight of state agencies, which are under the purview of the Governor’s Office.
