Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 EST.
Big Changes in Natural Resources Area – ‘If it’s Easy, Then it’s Not Worth Proposing’
Gov. Christine Gregoire is flanked by members of her blue-ribbon panel on transforming the state budget: Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center, David Rolf of SEIU local 775, Rod Brown of the Washington Environmental Council, Carver Gayton, former commissioner of the Department of Employment Security, and Don Pierce of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, Dec. 14.—What years of criticism from Republicans and business interests couldn’t do, the state’s whopping budget crisis seems about to accomplish – the first major reorganization of state agencies since the ’90s, and a small step toward reinventing state government.
Gov. Christine Gregoire Tuesday unveiled a plan that would bash together many of the state’s natural resource agencies, merge the state’s ethnic and minority commissions and put the state’s back-office functions under a single roof.
The plan won’t save a lot of money, in government terms – about $30 million in the next state budget – and it can’t be considered a top-to-bottom overhaul. But if the reality matches the rhetoric, it could wind up sharpening the state’s pencil and eliminating a few overlapping and redundant functions — a first move toward the “reset” of state government so many seem to be calling for these days. The effort seems to be getting plenty of support from all the various factions at play in state government – from Democrats and Republicans, from unions that see it as a way to make dollars stretch and from business interests that wonder how come it took so long.
“We are at a pivotal time in our history,” said Gov. Christine Gregoire. “It has been 80 years since we’ve suffered this kind of downturn. These are different times, and in these different times sometimes these kind of ideas come at the right time to make something happen.”
That’s not to say it will be easy getting it through the Legislature. The last time the state tried something like this was back in 1993, when it merged agencies and created the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hunting and fishing stakeholder groups mounted a fierce battle in the Legislature. This new proposal affects those same interest groups as well as dozens of others. Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center, one of the participants in the blue-ribbon panel that came up with the plan, said, “If it’s easy, then it’s not worth proposing, because we are not transforming state government.”
21 Agencies Scrunched to Nine
It sounds like that old Saturday Night Live sketch about the ‘decibet’ – the new 10-letter alphabet that aimed to make the English language more efficient, but at some cost to distinctness and pronouncability. Some 21 state agencies will be collapsed into nine. About 125 jobs will be lost in the process.
As far as the public is concerned, the most visible change will be in the natural resources field, where 11 state agencies will be cut down to five. It’s not that the natural resource agencies are considered a big drain on the state general fund — in fact most of their money comes from other sources, like user fees. But many consider them one of the best examples of a bureaucracy where competing agencies keep stepping on each others’ toes. One illustration of the problem: Last week, at a hearing of the state Ecology and Parks Committee, Rep. Ed Orcutt noted that he recently found himself working on a forest resources permit, and had to deal with four different agencies. “It’s a pet peeve of mine,” he said.
The natural resource consolidations are expected to save $2.5 million. At least the governor’s office seems to be realistic about the projections, said Jim King, lobbyist for Citizens for Parks and Recreation. You might find ways to streamline a few functions, and you might get rid of a few receptionists and other support staff, but reorganization by itself doesn’t save big bucks.
Might Get Lost
Under the plan, parks boosters are going to find themselves lumped together with hunters and fishers in a new Department of Conservation and Recreation. The Department of Fish and Wildlife is no more, nor is the Department of Parks and Recreation.
“Do we get lost in a bigger agency?” King asked. “From a parks perspective it’s a concern. Your typical commercial fisherman doesn’t give a darn about our issues, and we don’t give a darn about theirs. A lot of it depends on how it’s structured.”
On the other hand, he said it’s nice to see the governor making a serious move on government efficiency – at last. “Maybe she’s a little late coming to the party, in the view of a lot of us, but she’s come to the party.”
Came From Citizens’ Commission
The plan was devised in large part by the Governor’s Committee on Transforming Washington’s Budget, which met over the summer to consider ways to streamline state government. The 32-member panel included representatives of just about every interest group and political persuasion in the state.
Yes, it means some state jobs will be lost, said David Rolf, president of Service Employees International Union local 775. “We need to look at that on balance. We need to look at those sorts of consolidations first so as to try to do our very best to preserve core essential services to the people of the state.”
Back Office Functions
As far as state government is concerned, the biggest bucks are going to be gained by combining all of the state’s back-office functions – the departments the public never sees: General Administration, Personnel, Printing, and portions of the Department of Information Services and the Office of Financial Management. They’ll be combined into a new Department of Enterprise Services. The move is expected to save $18.3 million.
It should be noted that there have been many calls of late to eliminate the state printer as an expensive anachronism. This plan keeps it alive, albeit as a tiny part of a large agency. But the governor said the new department will take a harder look at contracting out for services. “If they can’t compete, they’re out,” she said.
Other Moves
The state’s separate ethnic and minority commissions will be combined into the Office of Civil Rights. That’s always a touchy issue – in the past those groups have jealously guarded their separate identities. At one point in the ’80s, the Commission on Hispanic Affairs, now targeted for merger, actually spent a full year debating whether to change its name from the Commission on Mexican-American Affairs — the hottest issue it faced.
The governor’s office will seek legislation to eliminate 36 other boards and commissions, on top of the 143 eliminated over the last two years. Down the road, the plan also envisions that the state Department of Corrections will strike deals with city and county agencies to share jail and prison space.
‘A Positive Step in the Right Direction’
State Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, the House Republican point-man on the budget, underscored the point about redundancy in a statement calling the plan “a positive step in the right direction.” It went on to say:
“We have talked about the need for reforming how state government delivers services for almost two years now,” he said. “While that reform needed to take place much sooner, it is certainly encouraging to see something different finally come from the governor’s budget office. It seems the gravity of our state’s budget situation is finally moving beyond the accountant’s view of strict numbers and into the necessary realm of wholesale changes.
“However, we need to continue thinking outside the box. State government as we’ve come to know it must change. Today’s actions are a small part of the needed overhaul to the size and scope of government. The public wants an efficient, streamlined government that lives within existing revenues. Consolidating agencies and services must be accompanied by the setting of priorities and eliminating complete programs in order to completely fill our projected budget shortfall.”
Other Details
Under the plan:
n A new Department of Conservation and Recreation will take over for Fish and Wildlife, the state Parks and Recreation Commission, the Recreation and Conservation Office, and the law enforcement unit of the Department of Natural Resources.
n The Department of Ecology will take over the functions of the Columbia Gorge Commission, the Pollution Liability Insurance Agency and the Department of Health reclaimed water program.
n The state Conservation Commission will move into the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation will move to the Department of Natural Resources.
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