Streamlining panels have a long history

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 11, 2009 - Page: 1A

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Shortly after hearing that the Legislature and Gov. Bobby Jindal would form a commission to streamline state government, Jim Brandt headed to his policy research group’s library and started pulling reports from past efforts.

Brandt’s Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana had collected many of the reports generated by the commissions over the years, and after a few minutes, they covered every inch of the conference room table, then filled all the chairs.

Brandt said that looking at the studies done over the years, he noticed the problems articulated and the recommended solutions were often repeated.

“There’s a lot of recycling of ideas and the same themes that continue to pop up in these things,” Brandt said.

But the counsel of earlier government efficiency committees was rarely heeded, he noted.
“It’s not a terribly impressive track record as far as implementation goes,” Brandt said.

In 1921, Gov. John M. Parker spoke of consolidating agencies and commissions and reducing the number of employees on the state payroll.

A dozen or so studies over the years expanded Parker’s list to include recommendations ranging from coordinating higher education to reducing the amount of state money used to provide bus service for private school students.

In 1940, Gov. Sam Jones — who earlier worked with Parker and would do the same later with Gov. John J. McKeithen — pushed through “streamlining” initiatives only to have the Louisiana Supreme Court rule them unconstitutional.

Since 1960, every governor has campaigned on making state government efficient, less costly and more responsive. Each governor from Jimmie Davis to Jindal has formed a study group similar to the current Commission to Streamline Government.

A new impetus?
The current commission is expected to have a package of recommendations for lawmakers to consider on Dec. 15. The final report is due Jan. 4.

State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, who chairs the effort, said he studied a major  1995 reorganization report, and read the March 2001 “Cut the Fat Report” drafted by a committee chaired by Jay Dardenne, then a state senator and now secretary of state.

“I had the benefit of looking at what had been recommended in the past and what worked,” Donahue said in a recent interview.

Donahue said his commission differs from those in the past because of the budget crisis.