Step in the Right Direction

House Bill 456 is good policy.   Conservatives believe in less government. Certainly, there is waste and duplication in state government and in addition to outside audits, the Georgia Government Accountability Act is one way to closely review the workings of state government to determine the need for efficiency.  This also brings more transparency to the workings of state agencies, departments and other entities.    There is a lot of waste out there, and we cannot continue to grow the state budget without first implementing performance standards.

HB 456 provides a vehicle for the General Assembly to do what we should be doing for our taxpayers, and that is to ensure government is streamlined, economical and efficient as possible.

The Georgia Government Accountability Act creates a legislative Sunset Advisory Committee to review state agencies, department, commissions and other entities.  The Sunset Committee’s review is based, in part, on detailed reports from all agencies, departments and other entities subject to close examination.  The report requires the agency, department and other entities to provide its own accounting of the expenditure of tax dollars and recommendations from the agency of how to improve operations.  The bill also requires the Sunset Committee to have public hearings.  Perhaps, and most importantly, the bill sets out specific criteria that the committee considers before making any recommendations to the full Legislature. 

The Sunset Committee would work extensively with each agency under periodic review to evaluate the need for the agency, propose needed statutory or management changes and develop legislation necessary to implement any proposed changes or it can recommend abolishment, a new mission statement, merger with another agency or department.  Unfortunately, certain agencies, such as universities and courts are not subject to the Sunset Act.  Some constitutionally created agencies are subject to review but not abolishment.

This is not an original idea.  The Texas Legislature created the Sunset Advisory Commission in 1977 to identify and eliminate waste, duplication and inefficiency in government agencies… I am taking the same approach.  Since its first reviews, Texas abolished 47 agencies and another 11 were consolidated.  Many others have refocused or improved their missions.   Texas has saved taxpayers $784M.  For every dollars spent on the sunset process in Texas, it saved $36.

It is common knowledge that departments and agencies cannot wait for the General Assembly to adjourn so they can continue to operate their agencies, departments as they see fit.  We are elected to be good stewards of taxpayer’s money.