Wilson Calls for Dismantling Bureaucracy

Taking up the cause of angry taxpayers, Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday attacked the state government he has headed for five years by vowing to dismantle huge chunks of public bureaucracy in order to rejuvenate a coagulated system and improve performance.

“You work hard for your paycheck,” Wilson said in a statement. “When the state taxes it to finance government programs, you deserve the best possible value for your dollar. . . . That is not the government we have today.”

Wilson timed his release of a plan to overhaul the state machinery for the week when taxes are on the minds of many Californians racing to beat the upcoming filing deadline. The unveiling was also orchestrated throughout the executive branch as 24 state officials convened a meeting Thursday morning to brief reporters on the governor’s three-year overhaul plan.

Their summary of a 67-page internal review that was initiated last September cited dozens of ideas for eliminating or consolidating state offices, transferring operations to private control and dropping at least 4,000 of the 38,000 regulations in state rule books.

But even with the announcement, officials still described their review as a work in progress that will take the remaining three years of Wilson’s term to complete. With many key details left to be decided, the governor described even his largest proposal--privatizing the state’s $7.3-billion workers’ compensation insurance fund--as an idea that is still being explored.

Throughout Sacramento on Thursday, officials and interest groups were scrambling to learn details of the targets Wilson had identified for change. Many are certain to generate a number of questions. Others have already sparked strong opposition.

Local officials and state engineers said Thursday, for example, that they have questions about the governor’s plan to transfer authority for billions of dollars in transportation planning to local governments.

Other ideas listed by the governor have been considered or proposed before, such as a plan to have private companies build and operate state prisons.

Overall, Wilson officials said they have not estimated how many of the state’s 276,000 workers would be affected by their plan or how much money it might save taxpayers.

“We are able to quantify it in some areas, not in others,” Wilson told reporters after outlining his plan in a luncheon speech to the Sacramento Rotary Club.

Wilson officials were also unclear about how much of their plan requires legislative change.

They expect to initiate some changes immediately--without legislative approval--such as a contract with private driving schools to administer the state’s motor vehicle test for first-time drivers. Other imminent changes involve the hiring of private companies to collect fines for the Department of Consumer Affairs, service loans for the Department of Housing and Community Development and store microfiche files for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Still, Wilson is seeking substantial new legislation to change laws that prohibit many of the changes he has proposed. Most important, Wilson hopes voters will eventually approve a constitutional amendment to roll back Civil Service laws that were adopted to protect state employees from political influence.

In his speech Thursday, the governor acknowledged that “the battle lines are already being drawn” over the legislation he needs.

Unions have staged informational pickets at state offices throughout California. Thursday, the California State Employees Assn. also said it hopes to join other labor groups to finance a $1-million public education campaign to combat the governor’s message over the next few years.

In the Legislature, the prospects for Wilson’s success are unclear. So far, Democrats have responded to the governor’s ideas cautiously--unwilling to dismiss the popular notion of shrinking state government but at the same time warning that privatization is not a cure-all.

Thursday, Democratic leaders seasoned their comments with charges that Wilson is on a personal mission to improve his sagging public image.

“There seems to be somewhat of an effort underway to re-create the governor as a more right-wing governor than his record would indicate,” said Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “It’s illegal immigration, affirmative action and the buzz words like ‘privatization’ that all fit into that.”

Katz said he has not seen details of the plan Wilson released Thursday. But he questioned the idea of privatizing the state’s workers’ compensation insurance fund because it appears to be performing well. And he opposes other suggestions, like the idea of privatizing driver testing.

“People’s ability to drive is something that is very important from a safety standpoint,” he said. “Those kinds of proposals frighten me.”

Senate Democratic Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) also refrained from a final judgment until he sees details of the governor’s plan. “But based on my initial impressions and past experience, my . . . reaction is one of skepticism,” he said in a statement.

“The question I want answered is, specifically, where are the savings in privatizing?” Lockyer said. “The private sector, unlike the government, requires a built-in profit margin. I don’t see how you do that and still save money unless you cut people’s wages or eliminate their health care, which are things I won’t support.”

The chances for Wilson’s success may depend largely on the results of the November election, in which the governor’s Republican Party is seeking to retain its narrow control of the state Assembly and to take over the Senate from Democrats. Most political observers believe the Assembly is up for grabs in the election and Democrats are favored to keep control of the Senate.

In upcoming months, Wilson will be campaigning for his plan at public events throughout the state.

The governor also plans to make his case that government should be limited to four primary functions: safety, education, welfare and public infrastructure, such as roads and the environment. Wilson said he hopes to reduce or eliminate other functions.

The task force report that Wilson released Thursday said it expects that many government functions can be performed 20% to 40% cheaper by private companies. It also downplayed the impact on state jobs, contending that studies of other government cutbacks indicate a minimal loss of jobs.

The report cited a 1989 U.S. Department of Labor study that said just 7% of public workers in other private contracting situations were laid off.

Finally, the government report said there are tens of millions of dollars to be made by selling a wide range of state properties, from vacant land in Stockton to beachfront lots in Santa Monica.