Where the Money Is

The search for “waste, fraud and abuse” in Sacramento didn’t start with Ronald Reagan in 1967, but that’s a good benchmark. When Reagan took office facing a budget deficit, he ordered a 10% across-the-board cut in state spending and created a 250-member blue ribbon businessmen’s (that’s what they called it then) task force to search every nook and cranny for savings and to bring business efficiency to government.

The drive started with a splash and ended with a thud. No one was sure how much was saved -- the figure $25 million was mentioned -- or if government procedures were really changed. But one of the memorable stories that remains was Reagan’s recollection of going into one department and noting that the workers were folding sheets of paper in half before filing them. The governor asked why they did it that way. No one seemed to know. Reagan said he directed them to stop folding the papers, thus cutting by half the cost of buying filing cabinets.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger administration is going through the cost-saving process anew and certainly will find bigger savings and economies. These discoveries, and Schwarzenegger’s plans for reorganizing state government, will come out between now and June 30. Already, there is word of a possible closure or consolidation of as many as 300 state boards and commissions, most of which are merely advisory.

A problem in the past has been the burial of good ideas. They are submitted and praised and then gather dust on bookshelves.

Last week, the Little Hoover Commission issued a 124-page report on the state’s $60-billion-a-year healthcare system, proposing extensive reforms that would save billions and provide better service to the public. This report will get more than the usual attention because it has been referred to by the Schwarzenegger team that is investigating ways to do just that.

Last week, a state Assembly working group studying budget procedures proposed several reforms. Legislation to implement them was introduced this week. The measures provide small but important steps toward long-term cost controls, such as requiring financial training for prison wardens. “This is not sexy political stuff,” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who led the effort. “It’s about the day-to-day working of our government.” But that’s where the money is, and that’s where the dollars can be saved or spent better.