Pains, Gains of Overhaul Are Aired

During the first public hearing on plans to streamline state government, senior citizen groups, housing advocates, labor unions and lawmakers raised concerns Friday that the creation of “super-agencies” that would take over the duties of several departments could reduce public access and neglect crucial problems.

The hearing at UC Riverside attracted about 600 people. At issue were the recommendations of a 275-member panel appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to overhaul the state’s bureaucracy.

Promoters of the recommendations say that if all 1,200 ideas offered by the panel were adopted, the state could save $31 billion over five years.

Schwarzenegger kicked off the hearing, saying he hoped to fulfill a promise he made during his State of the State speech in January to “get rid of all the waste and inefficiency and to make government smarter, faster and a better servant to the people.” He did not specifically endorse any of the ideas, but said the state’s problems require sweeping change.

“You cannot just chip away at the problems of our state,” he said.

The hearing was the first of five scheduled by a panel of 21 state legislators, public officials, academics and political supporters appointed by Schwarzenegger to hear public comment.

The hearing focused on creating a massive state infrastructure that would oversee such issues as transportation, water and school and housing construction.

For the most part, the speakers commended the panel for tackling the Herculean challenge of taming state bureaucracy. But many said they were leery of replacing the state’s array of boards, panels and agencies with large “super-agencies” that they feared would be inaccessible and too big to focus on regional problems.

Robert Balgenorth, president of the California Building and Construction Trade Council, AFL-CIO, said managers of super-agencies would not have the expertise to understand the nuances of the state’s transportation, water, housing and energy problems.

“All of these are complex subjects,” he said.

G. Allan Kingston, president of Century Housing Corp., a nonprofit housing lender based in Culver City, agreed, saying he worried that the problem of creating affordable housing for Californians would not get enough attention.

Among the speakers were several architects who protested plans to eliminate the state Seismic Safety Commission and the California Building Standards Commission.

Members of senior citizen groups objected to plans to eliminate the Commission on Aging. Representatives of several utilities that hold contracts to draw water and power from the Colorado River objected to a proposal to eliminate the Colorado River Board.

Richard Katz, a former state assemblyman and private consultant, said he feared the elimination of boards and panels would give people less opportunity to speak to policy makers.

“Democracy is messy,” he told the panel.

Even some members of the governor’s panel said they worried that the streamlining proposals could go too far.

After the hearing, William Hauk, co-chairman of the panel and president of the California Business Roundtable, said the public comments were helpful. He said he understands the concern that a streamlined bureaucracy could reduce public access to government and promised to pass it on to the governor.

“That is worth hearing,” Hauk said. “We have to be careful about that.”

The next hearing is scheduled Friday at UC San Diego.