FeedsLegislator hopes to reduce state department costs
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Rep. Phil LaJoyAs the state House enters negotiations to craft a plan to deal with the $940 million state budget deficit, Rep. Phil LaJoy (R-Canton), hopes it’s the right time to deal with an issue he’s raised before: bureaucratic waste and redundancies.
LaJoy planned to introduce legislation this week to create the “$2K Commission,” so-called because the nine-member body would be appointed to analyze how the roughly $2,000 the average taxpayer sends to Lansing is spent.
“We’ve never looked at state government, that I’m aware of, from A to Z,” said LaJoy.
Bill breakdown
Who’s behind it?
State Reps. Phil LaJoy (R-Canton), David Law (R-Commerce Township), Tim Moore (R-Farwell) and Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba).
Why’s it needed?
LaJoy and Law say state government has never scrutinized how it funds and what it spends for various functions in each of 17 departments, or looked at viability of state mandates that local officials say burden their communities.
What would happen?
A nine-member commission will spend three years collecting information about state functions, such as payroll, mail services and purchasing; a separate five-member panel will look at statutory mandates, both funded and unfunded. Both commissions will make recommendations about consolidations.
Where does it stand?
LaJoy said the set of four bills would be introduced this week and then assigned to committee for consideration. LaJoy, who has proposed similar legislation blocked by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said it faces some challenges.
LaJoy’s bill is part of a package of legislation intended to figure out the cost of supporting separate functions in departments that perform the same duties. In the past, LaJoy said, he tried to do the same thing focusing on payroll and human resources specifically.
“All these departments use space,” he recalled telling the director of management and budget. “You have orientation programs, training programs, binders and all kinds of things that cost money…What’s the total and complete cost of HR (human resources)?
“The answer to the question was: ‘We have no idea’,” LaJoy said.
The $2K commission will be at least nine members and each of the four leadership positions in the state legislature will appoint a commissioner. The fiscal agencies from each chamber will also get an appointment each. The three remaining commissioners will be members of the private sector, LaJoy said.
After three years of study, the commission would report to the Legislature about the cost and funding source of each function, the number of full-time employees and total cost of all functions and services combined and recommend ways to cut taxpayer waste, LaJoy said. That could include privatization to Michigan-based companies or pointing out how government employees could do it better, LaJoy said.
Bills related to the effort were to be introduced by Reps. David Law (R-Commerce Township), Tim Moore (R-Farwell) and Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba). LaJoy and Law discussed the package with reporters at the Canton Township administrative building on Monday.
“This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight,” he said. “I realize that. I tried to do it four years ago and got nowhere with it.” One attempt was vetoed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the other fizzled after the governor’s office threatened a veto, he said.
Casperson’s bill will establish another five-member commission that will analyze statutory mandates that require substantial expense.
“A lot of these agencies have requirements that cost money. Do we need them?” said LaJoy. “A lot of this stuff has a way to go down to municipalities.”
Tom Yack, Canton supervisor, cited one example of a burdensome mandate: local communities are required to notify every resident in an apartment building or trailer park even if just a sliver of the complex is within a 300-foot radius of a proposed development up for public hearing.
“Why should they receive any more notification than anybody else?” he asked. He said the problem is compounded because the township in that situation can’t determine all the addresses that are part of the particular complex. The state doesn’t provide funds that would help them comply with the mandate, either, he said. “It takes a lot of time. We don’t have the software to do that.”
LaJoy said he hopes the legislation will go further than his previous attempts, but that it faces roadblocks along the way.
With talk of serious cuts at the state level, is it a better environment to talk about streamlining government?
“What I would say to you on that is it should be,” said Law. “This package of bills that Rep. LaJoy is fighting to get passed addresses the heart of the problem.”
