A new team in North Carolina Auditor Dave Boliek’s office would examine state agencies’ spending and job openings under a Republican-led bill.
The proposal, Senate Bill 474, contains echoes of the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE” — the White House team led by Elon Musk that has eliminated wide swaths of the federal bureaucracy. But it would not have the power to solely cut jobs or spending — rather, it would send a report to legislators by the end of the year recommending any offices or jobs that should be dissolved.
The auditor’s new team — sporting an acronym of DAVE — would be allowed to use A.I. “and other appropriate tools” to look at state spending. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), the bill’s main sponsor, said it would allow his office to look at whether taxpayer dollars and resources “are effectively deployed.”
Boliek, a Republican who was elected in November after defeating former Democratic Auditor Jessica Holmes, argues that the bill just affirms authority that his office already has — just with more resources. And it “lends credibility” to North Carolina’s governance, he said.
“This bill really formalizes the work that needs to be done,” Boliek told senators on the new Regulatory Reform Committee Wednesday. That work needs to be “based on data, not emotion,” he added.
Sen. Sophia Chitlik (Photo: NCGA)Democratic lawmakers expressed wide-ranging concerns with the legislation. They said the bill risked politicizing a process that should be focused on objective measures, could use A.I. in a non-transparent way and could result in an even slimmer state workforce that many say is understaffed and that’s already struggling to fill vacancies.
“Behind every one of these jobs, we have a reason, a community, a team,” said Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham), who called the bill, and Musk’s DOGE, “job destroyers.”
Boliek pledged that his office would act in a nonpartisan way if the bill became law. And he acknowledged concerns with A.I., but said it was a good test case for its use in government.
“The fact is, we’ve got to start somewhere in the state of North Carolina using A.I.,” Boliek said. “Because it’s coming. There’s no better place than the state auditor’s office to get started with that.”
SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins (Courtesy photo)Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said there was “genuine concern” among state workers.
“(This bill) presupposes that a conversation of government efficiency is about employee efficiency,” said Watkins, suggesting that lawmakers instead scrutinize contracts that spend taxpayer dollars.
North Carolina government has about 14,000 total vacancies, according to state officials. The head of the government’s HR office has said it can take six months to fill a single role; and lawmakers say they continue to hear complaints that wages are too low.
Berger’s bill is part of a wider push by Republicans to implement parts of DOGE’s broader agenda at the state level. In the House, members of the oversight committee have begun a series of hearings in which they grill agency leaders on what they do and how they spend money.
The bill would shut down the new auditor’s team at the end of 2028. It now heads to the Senate Rules Committee for further consideration.
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