Article by Erik Smith. Published on Friday, October 03, 2010 EST.

Bipartisan Effort Generating Huge Response – K-12 Overhead is Frequently Cited

by Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Oct. 1.—A little-heralded effort from the state Senate to ask state employees for budget-cutting ideas is generating a big response – more than 6,400 suggestions so far.

            It’s been an avalanche, really. In two weeks the effort has generated more responses than the governor got with a broad public appeal last summer.

            And you might say this is just to give you a little advance notice. The responses probably won’t be made public until December. But legislative staffers, who are watching them closely, say there are some doozies in that suggestion box.

            They call attention to wasteful practices in state government that probably would never have gotten attention, or never would have seemed important, if the state wasn’t facing a huge budget problem next year.

            All it took was for someone to ask.

            “Most people are glad you asked them,” said state Sen. Joseph Zarelli of Ridgefield, the senior Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He and chairwoman Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle, put out the call with an email to more than 50,000 state employees Sept. 16, the day before the state’s upcoming $4.5 billion shortfall was announced. Within 24 hours they had 3,000 responses.

            Governor’s Approach was Different

            If the idea sounds familiar, it’s probably because Gov. Christine Gregoire ran a suggestion program of her own last summer, when the enormity of next year’s budget crisis was just becoming apparent. But there are some big differences. The governor’s program was a mass appeal to the general public. Between July 19 and Aug. 26, the governor’s office maintained a website that invited Washington residents to post ideas and vote for their favorites.

            The site is closed now to new entries, but it’s still possible to view the results. During the six weeks the site operated, it generated 5,600 comments. About 2,000 ideas were turned in, and some of the more practical ones are getting attention in the governor’s budget office. Among them – a proposal to eliminate the front license plate on Washington-registered vehicles.

            But it’s safe to say that the most popular ideas don’t stand much of a chance, for political reasons. The one that got the most votes was eliminating state services for illegal aliens – requiring proof of legal residency. The idea provoked the thundering disapproval of virtually every Democrat in the country when California voters approved a ballot proposition with a similar theme back in the ’90s. Eventually the courts threw it out.

            The second favorite was forcing prison inmates to work for their room and board. And the third was legalizing marijuana and taxing it to the max. “I’m guessing some of them on marijuana may have voted more than once,” said state budget director Marty Brown.

            Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty

            What’s different about the Senate effort is that it has gone out to the people who know state government the best – the people on the front lines, whose jobs are at stake if Washington can’t rein in its spending. The email from Prentice and Zarelli directs them to a website on which they can offer their suggestions. But the suggestions are not posted publicly. Comments may be posted anonymously, and the site asks permission to share the suggestion with others.

Participation isn’t limited to state employees, but that’s where the emphasis has gone.

And in one indication of just how threatening the idea can be, Zarelli’s office has gotten unconfirmed reports that state workers are being told not to participate.  

“I hope that’s not true,” Zarelli said. “This is about finding out, from the people on the ground, how state government can be more efficient. State employees should be viewed as a resource – not a threat to the status quo. I sincerely hope that managers and others across state government are not seeking to stifle ideas, but will act to encourage them.”
            Senate Ways and Means staff will sort through the suggestions and present a report, most likely at the committee’s December meeting.

Prentice said it sounded like a good idea when Zarelli came to her with it – the kind of idea that deserved a bipartisan send-off. “I want to make sure we don’t play political games with it,” she said.

            What They’re Saying

So far the suggestions appear to be getting into the level of detail that budget writers may be able to use, Zarelli said. Things like redundant agency functions. Or workers calling in sick, so that others can get overtime.

            One idea that keeps turning up is eliminating overhead in the K-12 school system, Prentice said. The state has devised an elaborate system for pumping money out to the school districts, using regional bureaucracies that are known as educational service districts. In ordinary times lawmakers would be unlikely to reexamine the structure, Prentice said.

            “It would be like setting off an atom bomb in our state,” she said. “We have shied away from looking at difficult things.”

            But things are different now, she said. The state’s budget hole is so deep and so dark that lawmakers can use any idea they can get.

Letter from Prentice and Zarelli

Here is the email that went out to all state employees Sept. 16:

Good morning,

As you know, the Legislature will be faced with addressing another multi-billion dollar deficit beginning in January.  These are challenging and difficult times, both for taxpayers and for employees providing valuable state services.  

We firmly believe front-line state employees represent a great untapped resource that can help the Legislature address these fiscal concerns.  It is you who have the intimate knowledge of the inner-workings of your agency.  It is you who are aware of what works and what doesn’t; what can be done away with and what needs to be enhanced; where efficiencies can be achieved and where the Legislature would be unwise to cut. 
 

To that end, we ask for your help.  Budgets will be reduced next session across state government, and very difficult choices will have to be made.  We as legislators need your ideas about how to make our state agencies more efficient, save taxpayer dollars, and better serve the people of this state.  

We hope you will take the time, either at work or at home, to submit your savings ideas here. Your ideas will be routed directly to us. Your participation is strictly voluntary, and your submission will be anonymous unless you choose to include your name and contact information along with your idea.

This is your chance to be heard, have your ideas acted upon and better serve the people of Washington.  Please be assured that we, along with legislative staff, will take the time to review all ideas submitted.

Thank you for your time, ideas and service.

Sincerely,

Senator Joseph Zarelli                       

Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member

Sen. Margarita Prentice

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