Washington Governor Tackles Natural Resource Reform

Austin Jenkins
09/01/2009

Here's a joke. How many bureaucrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer is two. One to screw it in, the other to screw it up. While that may be unfair, government is seldom a model of efficiency. But now, in the face of a recession and budget crises, states like Washington and Oregon are embracing the idea of government reform. Tomorrow we'll hear from Oregon, but first Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins examines efforts by Washington's governor to streamline state government.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire doesn't tell light bulb jokes. But she does have a favorite parable about redundancies in state government. Here she is telling it during her second inaugural address last January.

Gregoire: "We have three agencies managing natural resources each with its own scientists standing in the same Washington stream. We need to reform and we will."

During that speech, Gregoire riffed for several minutes on the topic of government reform. She said it's time to reboot state government, but warned it wouldn't be easy.

Gregoire: "There are sacred cows standing in the way, there are political roadblocks. But let's step up to the challenge for the people who sent us here."

One of the Governor's signature reform proposals was to eliminate a third of the state's nearly 500 citizen board and commissions. In the end, the legislature got rid of 18 of them and the Governor disbanded 50 more by executive order. But if the Governor and her fellow Democrats really want to reboot government, they have a long way to go.

Arnold–Williams: "Government reform, change in general is hard for everybody."

Robin Arnold–Williams is Gregoire's policy director. She notes the 2009 legislature did approve the Governor's plan to close eleven driver's license offices. Now, says Arnold–Williams, the Governor is focused on other reforms. Like overhauling how the state manages and protects its natural resources, remember the three scientists in the same stream?

Arnold–Williams: "One of the ideas that the Natural Resource group is looking at is, so we all have separate offices out throughout the state. Does it make sense to think about how we might come together and be co–located?"

Surprisingly, given Washington's budget woes, Arnold–Williams says this focus on natural resources is not primarily about cutting costs. Instead, she explains, it's more about improving customer service and streamlining the permitting process for individuals and companies. And it's in reaction to a common complaint.

Arnold–Williams: "Clearly people do say why do I need to go to go four different agencies for this?"

Efforts are also underway to get a handle on Washington state's antiquated and disparate information technology or IT systems. Washington may be home to Microsoft, but by all accounts it has a hodgepodge of IT systems that are costing taxpayers nearly a billion and a half dollars every two years to maintain and operate. Larisa Benson, a former University of Washington professor of management, is leading this effort from her current perch in the State Auditor's office.

Benson: "What's the baseline now? What are we currently paying for servers and the people who take care of those servers? Then ascertain who's doing the best. Who right now is getting the best server service for the least amount of money?"

Johnson: "This is when your listeners' eyes are going to glaze over, but I got to tell you this is where the dollars are."

Neal Johnson heads the Government Reform Project at the Pew Center on the States in Washington, DC. Washington state has already earned an A–minus grade from Pew for how it's managed. But Johnson says there's always room for improvement. He thinks it's smart to focus on IT and other functions that can be shared by multiple agencies.

Johnson: "Where states are finding opportunities to cut costs while maintaining or in some cases even improving the services that matter to the public is really looking at smarter spending."

Gregoire does have her share of critics. State Representative Gary Alexander is the ranking Republican on the House budget committee. He thinks the Governor is missing the mark when it comes to government reform. He questions the focus on natural resources when it's a small fraction of the overall state budget.

Alexander: "Regulatory reform is important, but the two biggest area of the budget, education and social services make up 75 to 80 percent of our general fund budget. Why wouldn't we start there?"

Alexander recently released a top ten list of money saving ideas for the state. They include a complete reorganization of how state government works beginning with social and health services. He's also eager to do something majority Democrats have traditionally resisted: privatize more state services. Robin Arnold–Williams, Gregoire's policy chief, defends the decision to focus in on natural resources and IT.

Arnold–Williams: "We could have done it the other way. We've chosen to take a targeted approach. Now, while we're in there if other ideas come up we keep them in a kind of a parking lot list and say, maybe that's the next ones we go to."

Arnold–Williams says the Governor plans to roll out her next round of government reform proposals later this fall, and will ask lawmakers to act on them when they convene in January. The key to success, say government reform watchers, is how much political capital Gregoire will be willing to spend to get these initiatives passed.

I'm Austin Jenkins in Olympia.

© Copyright 2009, KUOW