The Commission on Streamlining Government accepted the first list of recommendations to make Louisiana government more efficient and less costly. The first list of 35 recommendations accepted by the commission are wide-ranging in scope. Among the suggestions are proposals to reduce the number of state employees and the number of state vehicles; plans to increase the employee-to-management ratio in the Department of Social Service; efforts to consolidate and/or outsource certain state services and operations in the areas of social services, mental health, public health units and accounts receivables across state agencies. Some of the recommendations include specific expected cost savings, but others do not. Commission members want to have specifics on planned cost savings and the information to back up those projected savings before acting on the recommendations. The commission did not accept a recommendation relative to changes in the way the state’s four-year colleges and universities are governed, deciding the issue is outside the authority of the commission. Another commission created in state law, the Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission, is charged with examining the state’s higher-education system.
The Advisory Groups on Duplicative and Non-Essential Services, Outsourcing, Privatization and Risk Management, and Efficiency and Benchmarking which have been working with the full commission over the last two and half months submitted the formal recommendations to the commission. The next step is to allow time for the public to comment on the proposals. Citizens can view the full list of accepted recommendations at the Streamlining Government Commission Web site.
