November 11, 2017 Greg Penglis
We don’t have a government department engaged in really long term planning. We have the same problems going on year after year and no one is set up to do anything about that. So, it made sense to have an agency dedicated to making the government run more smoothly, with the latest technology, with private industry best practices, and to be able to find out where the inefficiencies are.
This department will prepare the government for the 22nd century by planning long in advance for the future. Also, it will go over the entire federal bureaucracy to remove duplicate programs, waste, corruption, entrenched civil servants that do nothing, and set the government up for minimal resource / maximum output. This department should be a laboratory for new, creative, and better ways to govern. Could incorporate a private component to inspire private innovation and ideas. Review how we do military contracts and choose weapons systems. Is it for jobs or military needs? Military and weapon systems budgets. Cyber security.
This department will also improve and restructure all interactions of private citizens with the federal government, to include: transparency, simplified forms, all forms in English, removing all racial and ethnic classifications and distinctions for any function of government, give direct access to those affected by specific government policies to reach the people who made the policies, hold “town meetings across the country so people know what services are available, and to open up the process so no agency or department becomes insulated from those affected by their policies, or the general public.
This will be a department that regulates other departments. Probably the biggest challenge will be the General Services Administration, which runs all the buildings. The Department of Innovation may replace the General Services Administration. Salaries and compensation for Department of Innovation to be determined by how much money they save the federal operating budget, how creative they are, and how fast they bring the rest of the government into the latest technology and practices.
Regulations and regulatory agencies may be an obsolete way to govern. Is there a better way? Probably the most important function of the Department of Innovation is to analyze not just the duplicate and overlapping regulations in place, but to analyze whether the process of regulatory agencies issuing and enforcing regulations is a model we want to continue?
Regulatory agencies have become their own governments. They have their own budgets, promulgate regulations within the agency, enforce those regulations, collect fines, and enforce judgments. They have given money collected from judgments to Leftist special interest groups, like the EPA during the Obama Administration, and they have at best minor oversight from Congress. Can they come up with a new way to enforce the laws but without the separate and powerful regulatory agencies and departments, with a permanent bureaucracy, where individuals work decades longer than the Representatives and Senators who govern them.
By Greg Penglis and GROK AI, December 4, 2025
INTRODUCTION:
Eight years ago I started writing bills after establishing Action Radio at 1330 AM WEBY in Milton, Florida. I had no idea how to write citizen legislation. There were no manuals, no courses, no guidance of any kind save for giving your idea to a legislator. Except they don’t write bills anymore either. So I developed my own system starting with our earliest bills back in 2017.
On Veterans Day, November 11, 2017, I released outlines for two new departments, one was the Department of Freedom, and the other was this one, the Department of Innovation. The Department of Freedom bill was updated recently to be able to be voted on by Congress and put right into the US Code of Laws. This bill is ready now also.
As Grok AI said, our original bill was “eerily close to DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. This was never an actual department, rather a short term commission. They did a lot of good pointing out the obvious multi-trillion dollar waste in the federal government, but being under an executive order with a bureaucracy that hates Trump and loves their power and wasting money, not much really changed.
Most of the bill that follows is about creating and implementing an actual Department of Innovation. But there was one question from 2018 where I asked if it was possible to go beyond the standard bureaucracy model of enforcing the laws passed by Congress? And in those eight years I never thought of an answer — until yesterday. Going back and fourth with Grok AI I got the inspiration.
What if each major law had it’s own executive agency to manage it? No other duties, no wide subject areas, easy to monitor and fund, great for oversight, and completely clear in all their actions? What if we called them “Statute Departments?” How would that work? Well, here is exactly how that would work. Comments welcome at the end.
A BILL
To abolish the unconstitutional administrative state, restore the enumeration of powers and the separation of powers, and establish the Department of Innovation as the permanent engine of constitutional government.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Act may be cited as the “Department of Innovation Act”.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE
Congress finds and declares the following:
- Regulatory agencies have become independent centers of power that write, interpret, and enforce their own rules with minimal oversight by the elected branches, often outlasting the elected officials who created them.
- Most existing federal departments and agencies exercise powers nowhere delegated to the United States by the Constitution, in violation of Article I, Section 8 and the Tenth Amendment.
- The temporary Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative of 2025 demonstrated that dramatic reduction of waste is possible when political will exists, but also proved that scattered teams inside hostile agencies are quickly neutralized.
- A permanent, unified, mission-driven Department with statutory independence, subpoena power, and a culture of continuous reinvention is the only structural solution capable of preventing recapture.
- The federal government must be deliberately redesigned for the technologies, threats, and opportunities of the 22nd century rather than perpetually patching a 20th-century model.
- Citizens deserve a government whose forms, regulations, and spending decisions are transparent, searchable, and contestable in plain English, without racial or ethnic classifications.
- Private-sector talent, competition, and incentive structures routinely produce orders-of-magnitude greater efficiency than traditional civil-service systems.
- The bureaucratic-agency model of law enforcement—essentially unchanged since the administrative systems of ancient Rome, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Persian Empire—has become an obsolete and inherently corruption-prone method of governing large populations, inevitably producing entrenched kingdoms, mission creep, and the fusion of legislative, executive, and judicial power in unelected hands.
- The United States of America must once again place itself at the forefront of human freedom by inventing an entirely new paradigm of governance that no civilization in history has yet attempted—one that replaces permanent bureaucracies with decentralized, rotating, technology-enabled, citizen-involved, and outcome-focused systems of public administration.
- By abolishing all entities not exercising an enumerated power and replacing them with single-purpose Statute Departments tied exclusively to specific acts of Congress, this Act restores full compliance with Article I, Section 8 and the Tenth Amendment, making the federal government more constitutional than at any time since 1935, because 1935 was the last year the pre-New Deal Constitution was still judicially enforceable.
- Oversight of a single-purpose Statute Department administering one specific Act is infinitely simpler and more effective than attempting to oversee sprawling omnibus agencies.
- Only a new Cabinet-level Department of Innovation, structured from its inception to prevent entrenchment and insulated from existing agency domination, can deliver the perpetual reinvention the American people deserve.
SECTION 3. ENACTMENT OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE
Chapters 12 through 16 of Title 5, United States Code, are enacted to read as follows:
TITLE 5—GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
CHAPTER 12 —DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION AND CONSTITUTIONAL RESTORATION
§ 1201. Establishment of the Department of Innovation
There is established an executive department to be known as the Department of Innovation (DOI).
§ 1202. Secretary of Innovation
The Department shall be headed by a Secretary of Innovation, appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
§ 1203. Organization of the Department—Statutory Divisions
§ 1204. Definitions
In this chapter—
(1) “Statute Department” means an executive entity created only by the exact phrase in a public law: “There is hereby established the [Name] Statute Department to administer this Act.”
(2) “Traditional Cabinet department” means a department exercising only powers enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
The following divisions and offices are hereby established within the Department of Innovation and shall report directly to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary:
§ 1211. Bureau of Government Reinvention (BGR)
Designs and mandates pilot programs that replace permanent regulatory agencies with competitive, sunset-limited, technology-enabled execution models; may override existing agency procedures during approved pilots.
§ 1212. Private Innovation Corps (PIC)
Manages all private-sector, university, and individual secondments; bounties, which refers to cash prizes to private individuals, companies, universities, or teams who deliver proven, measurable results that solve government problems or cut waste; and cooperative ventures with the Department.
§ 1213. Bureau of Waste, Duplication & Corruption Elimination (WDCE)
(a) Duties – The Bureau shall conduct continuous, AI-assisted forensic audits of every dollar of federal spending, including all agencies, programs, grants, contracts, loans, and entitlements.
(b) Powers – The Bureau is authorized to:
(1) issue binding orders to any federal entity to freeze or claw back improperly expended funds identified in an audit;
(2) refer evidence of criminal fraud or corruption directly to the Attorney General or to United States Attorneys for immediate prosecution;
(3) propose to the Secretary of Innovation specific legislation, regulatory repeals, or program terminations to eliminate identified waste, duplication, or abuse;
(4) transmit to the President and to the appropriate committees of Congress quarterly public reports listing every instance of waste exceeding $10,000,000, together with recommended corrective actions;
(5) require any federal officer or employee to appear and testify under oath regarding expenditures under their control; and
(6) publish on a public website, in real time, every audit finding and the status of corrective actions taken.
(c) Enforcement – Non-compliant agencies suffer automatic dollar-for-dollar appropriation reductions in the next fiscal year equal to the exact amount of money the WDCE found was wasted, duplicated, or illegally spent.
§ 1214. Bureau of Technological Horizon (BTH)
Identifies exponential technologies and mandates their adoption across the federal government; may issue binding integration orders to any agency with 180-day compliance deadlines.
§ 1215. Bureau of Citizen Interface Revolution (CIR)
Eliminates all racial/ethnic classifications in federal forms within 3 months and converts every citizen-facing form, regulation, and spending record into plain English with real-time public search portals; may unilaterally rewrite and republish any existing form or regulation to meet these standards.
§ 1216. Bureau of Performance & Compensation Reform (BPCR)
Replaces existing GS pay tables with performance-based compensation tied to verified savings; shall reassign or terminate employees of agencies that refuse to implement approved reform plans.
§ 1217. Innovation Laboratory (InnoLab)
Operates live governance experiments (blockchain voting pilots, AI adjudication, citizen juries, etc.) with full legal immunity from APA or other process requirements during the experiment period.
§ 1218. DOGE Legacy Transition Division (DLTD)
Absorbs and permanently institutionalizes every proven 2025 DOGE reform; sunsets automatically when job is accomplished, two year maximum.
§ 1219. Strike Force Command (SFC)
Maintains 50–150-person rapid-deployment teams with nationwide subpoena power, arrest authority for contempt, and the ability to assume temporary control of any federal office or facility to enforce orders issued under this chapter.
§ 1220. Office of the Inspector General for Innovation
7-year term IG with independent prosecutorial referral authority and full access to all classified material related to specific investigations.
§ 1221. Bureau of Statute Department Creation & Transition
Drafts mandatory statutory language for every new Statute Department and executes orderly 30-day wind-downs of Departments when statutes are repealed.
§ 1222. Office of Joint Oversight with the Department of Freedom
Co-signs (with the Secretary of Freedom) all funding for any Statute Department touching enumerated rights; either Secretary may unilaterally freeze funds for 180 days upon written finding of constitutional violation.
§ 1223. State Restoration Division (SRD)
Executes the 90-day abolition of all Constitution non-enumerated Executive entities under chapter 14 and possesses plenary freeze authority during the transition period.
CHAPTER 13—STATUTE DEPARTMENTS
§ 1301. Purpose and replacement of unconstitutional omnibus agencies
The sprawling, permanent bureaucracies that currently exercise sweeping jurisdiction over entire subject areas (environment, education, transportation, housing and urban development, health, labor, energy, agriculture beyond enumerated powers, and others) are not authorized by any clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, and are repugnant to the Tenth Amendment. Although Congress possesses authority to regulate commerce among the states, the present Department of Commerce and similar departments vastly exceed that power. This chapter replaces all such unconstitutional omnibus agencies with single-purpose Statute Departments, each limited to administering one specific Act of Congress that itself falls within an enumerated power.
§ 1302. Creation of a Statute Department
A Statute Department is created if and only if a public law contains the exact phrase: “There is hereby established the [Name] Statute Department to administer this Act.” No other language or implication shall create a Statute Department.
§ 1303. Exclusive powers and duties
A Statute Department shall have no powers except those expressly granted in its single creating statute and any subsequent amendments to that exact statute. It possesses no implied, inherent, residual, emergency, or investigative powers beyond the four corners of its creating statute, and it shall have no authority over any other statute or subject matter.
§ 1304. Rulemaking authority
Any regulation, guidance, order, or interpretation proposed by a Statute Department shall have no force or effect unless and until it is enacted into law through the normal legislative process—passage by both Houses of Congress and presentment to the President for signature or veto.
§ 1305. Abolition upon repeal of its creating statute
If the creating statute of a Statute Department is repealed in whole or in part such that no duties remain, the Statute Department is abolished thirty (30) days after the repeal takes effect. All employees are terminated and each receives ninety (90) days’ severance pay from remaining appropriations.
CHAPTER 14—STATE RESTORATION DIVISION
§ 1401. Duties and powers
(a) Within three (3) hours of enactment of this chapter, the State Restoration Division shall publish the definitive list of all existing executive entities that are neither traditional Cabinet departments exercising enumerated powers under Article I, Section 8, nor Statute Departments created pursuant to chapter 13.
(b) Every entity on that list—including but not limited to the Departments of Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Labor, Commerce (in its present form), Health and Human Services (except portions later converted to Statute Departments), Agriculture (except enumerated powers), Interior (except enumerated powers), the Environmental Protection Agency, and all independent agencies and commissions—exercises powers not delegated to the United States and is repugnant to Article I, Section 8 and the Tenth Amendment.
(c) Ninety (90) days after enactment, every entity on the list is abolished by operation of law. Its legal existence ceases, appropriations are canceled, employees are terminated or transferred at the sole discretion of the Secretary of Innovation, and all functions cease at the federal level.
(d) From enactment until the 90th day, the Division may freeze all new regulations, obligations, hiring, contracts, grants, loans, and spending by entities scheduled for abolition.
CHAPTER 15—LIMITATION OF JUDICIAL POWER
§ 1501. Judicial review prohibited
The practice of judicial review as exercised since Marbury v. Madison (1803) insofar as it extends beyond the resolution of actual cases and controversies between specific parties is an unconstitutional expansion of Article III power. Accordingly, no federal court shall have jurisdiction to enjoin, stay, set aside, or delay any action taken under chapters 12 through 16, including the abolition of agencies under § 1401 or the creation, modification, or abolition of any Statute Department, except in a concrete case brought by a person claiming direct personal injury.
CHAPTER 16—PERSONNEL AND MISCELLANEOUS
§ 1601. Personnel rules
(a) No person may serve in any position from the Secretary of Innovation down through GS-15 or equivalent (senior managers, division directors, and policy-level staff) for longer than eight (8) consecutive years. Lower-grade career employees may continue indefinitely to preserve institutional knowledge.
(b) At least thirty percent (30 %) of all personnel in the Department of Innovation must be private-sector or state-government secondees at all times. Employees may be separated without cause if necessary to maintain this ratio.
§ 1602. Funding
The Department shall be funded through annual appropriations, with priority given to verified savings identified by the Bureau of Waste, Duplication & Corruption Elimination.
§ 1603. Severability
If any provision of chapters 12 through 16 is held invalid, the remainder shall not be affected.
SECTION 4. REPEALS
All provisions of existing law that create, fund, or grant any power or authority to any executive entity that is neither—
(1) a traditional Cabinet department exercising only powers enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, nor
(2) a Statute Department created pursuant to chapter 13 of this title—
are hereby repealed to the extent of such creation, funding, or grant of power or authority.
The list published by the State Restoration Division pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 1401 shall constitute conclusive evidence of the entities subject to repeal and abolition under this section.
SECTION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act and chapters 12 through 16 of title 5, United States Code, as enacted by this Act, shall take effect immediately upon the date of enactment of this Act.
ENDORSEMENTS:
BILL STATUS:
COMMENTS: