FRom AP on Bakersfield Caifornian
A look at draft proposals from the California Performance Review California Performance Review recommendations at a glance:
-Eliminate 12,000 state jobs through attrition
-Combine 11 state agencies and 79 departments into 11 departments
- Merge 25 state entities into one California Infrastructure Department
- Gain higher lottery proceeds by joining other states for large lottery payouts
- Cut travel costs by booking all airline flights online
- Let Californians renew driver's licenses online
- Merge 20 state entities into new Department of Education and Work Force Preparation run by the governor
- Abolish county superintendent offices and county boards of education
- Change cutoff date for kindergarten from Dec. 2 to Sept. 1, requiring children to be older upon entry
- Ask Medi-Cal recipients to contribute more for doctors visits and prescription drugs
- Eliminate 118 of 339 boards and commissions in executive branch
- Require community service from students at public colleges and universities
- Raise out-of-state college and university fees
- Issue electronic debit cards for Women, Infant and Children's program
---
Estimated five-year savings from recommendations:
$13 billion, general government
$7.6 billion, public safety
$6.4 billion, statewide operations
$4.9 billion, health and human services
$4.1 billion, education, training and volunteerism
$3.3 billion, infrastructure
---
Suggested boards and commissions to eliminate:
Banking Advisory Council
Board of Barbering and Cosmetology
Bureau of Hearing Aid Dispensers Advisory Committee
California Horse Racing Board
Contractors State Licensing Board
Integrated Waste Management Board
Fair Employment and Housing Commission
Industrial Welfare Commission
Air Resources Board
Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Transportation Commission
High Speed Rail Authority
Board of Prison Terms
California Energy Commission
Franchise Tax Board
State Lands Commission
State Water Resources Control Board
---
Among other suggestions:
-Turn driver's license written tests into a learning experience. Applicants couldn't fail, because they would be fed new questions by a touch-screen computer kiosk until they got enough correct. The report says nearly a third of otherwise good drivers routinely fail, and there is little correlation between failing the test and driving performance or accident rates.
-Allow "e-payments," so people and businesses could pay their state bills electronically.
-Use two-year state budgets to give officials time to evaluate programs.
-Transfer more than a tenth of state roadways to local governments to operate and maintain.
-Use radar-controlled cameras to enforce highway work zone speed laws. Violators would be mailed a ticket, similar to new red light cameras.
Source: California Performance Review
Cool! No more Franchise Tax Board.
Does that mean we don't have to pay taxes anymore?
No more Board of Prison Terms either.
So... do they just give them all automatic parole then?
I think I can live without many of these things, but as you point out, we need more details to make an honest assessment as to whether the recommendations are prudent.
The devil is always in the details.
You know, Norm, we both know that if 25% of these pipedreams were passed, the Public Employee and Teachers Unions and all their sympathasyzers would go absolutely berserk!!! There'd be riots! I mean even some of the damn retired little ol school marms would grab their newly married lesbo spouse and rush the Crapitol and start throwing school desks through the third story windows!!!
The CHP would be overwhelmed and unable to stop them kinda terrorists! They'd be stacken them desks up the side of that building and throwin molotov cocktails through them broken windows, then rushing the parking garage, doin the same thing to all those Mercedes parked in there! It would make Watts and the Rodney King riots look like NOTHING!!!
Can'tcha just see it? I sure can! All those ol biddies running the County offices of Edukayshun will turn militant on PMS in a New York MINUTE!!! The Commonista Revolution will have ARRIVED!!! I can just see the black cloud rising on the western horizon in my mind as I type this scenario!!!
And in the final scene... There goes Arnolds Hummer Limo screamin down the diamond lane of Hwy 99 South,(maybe that's the Hydrogen Highway) with him stickin his head up out the moonroof yellin "I'LL BE BACH!!!" YOU OL BATTLEAXES... I'LL BE BACH!!!
These are among the boards proposed for elimination by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's government review team:
Architects Board
Landscape Architect Technical Committee
Banking Advisory Council
Board of Barbering and Cosmetology
Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
California Horse Racing Board
Contractors' State Licensing Board
Court Reporters Board
Credit Union Advisory Committee
Electronic Commerce Advisory Council
Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee
New Motor Vehicle Board
Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun
Private Security Disciplinary Review Commission (North/South)
Alarm Company Operator Disciplinary Review Committee
Real Estate Advisory Commission
Service Agency Advisory Committee
Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board
Agricultural Cooperative Bargaining Advisory Committee
Apprenticeship Council
Commission of the Californias
Commission for Economic Development
Commission on Health and Safety and Worker's Compensation
Committee for the Employment of People With Disabilities
Employment Training Panel
Fair Employment and Housing Commission
Industrial Welfare Commission
Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board
Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board
Rehabilitation Appeals Board
Small Business Board
Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
Air Resources Board
Board of Geologists and Geophysicists
Boating and Waterways Commission
Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
Colorado River Board
Delta Protection Commission
Heritage Preservation Commission
Historical Resources Commission
Integrated Waste Management Board
Interagency Aquatic Invasive Species Council
Oil Spill Technical Advisory Commission
Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreational Commission
State Lands Commission
State Water Resources Control Board
Regional Water Quality Control Boards
Structural Pest Control Board
Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority
Board of Reclamation
Building Standards Commission
California Transportation Commission
California Water Commission
Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority
Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee
Electricity Oversight Board
Energy Commission
High Speed Rail Authority
Low-Income Oversight Board
Public Library Construction and Renovation Board
Public Works Board
Seismic Safety Commission
State Allocation Board
Tax Credit Allocation Committee
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Advisory Committee
California Career Resources Network
Community College Board of Governors
Education Audit Appeals Board
California Postsecondary Education Commission
Quality of Education Commission
Student Aid Commission
Loan Advisory Council
Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine Advisory Committee
California Commission on Aging
Child Development Policy Advisory Committee
Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission
Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and Treatment Task Force
Department of Managed Care Advisory Committee and Clinical Advisory Panel
Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board
Medical Assistance Commission
Rural Health Policy Council
911 Advisory Board
Commission on Emergency Medical Services
State Board of Fire Services
Campus Sexual Assault Task Force
Racial Profiling Panel
Board of Prison Terms
Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission
Joint Venture Policy Advisory Board
Narcotics Addiction Evaluation Authority
Prison Industry Authority
Youth Authority Board
Athletic Commission
Bipartisan Commission on Internet Political Practices
Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind
Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs
Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education Task Force
Commission on the Status of Women
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission
Commission on Uniform State Laws
Franchise Tax Board
Summer School for the Arts Board of Trustees
Veterans Board
Governor's Commission on Veterans Cemeteries