Getting the Most Bang for Our Buck?

How can we make sure we’re getting the most bang for our buck in state government operations?

Chatter about raising old taxes and implementing new ones is beginning to pick up in the Capitol building. My reaction is different than some who engage in this conversation: they are excited about the prospect – they salivate at the thought of more and new revenue.

Do you know what thoughts the talk of more and new taxes triggers in me?

It makes me think of paying more for something than what I’d hoped when I’m not sure whether or not I should make the purchase.

Public confidence in our state government waxes and wanes like this. What would shore up public trust in our numerous departments, especially when taxes loom on the horizon when we don’t know what obstacles our one-trick-pony (oil and gas development) may face next??

What would help ensure us that there is transparency, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, statutory adherence, constitutional alignment, and true public accountability in the operations of our state government?

Glad you asked. I’ve got the solution to make sure we know that we’re getting the most bang for our buck, again especially important if taxes are on the table.

My bill, SB 9, establishes the Alaska Sunset Commission as an apolitical, independent, and objective entity charged with reviewing, via detailed and robust audits, each department by division in the state on a rotating schedule, with the audits resulting in reports full of recommendations for improvements. But instead of what too often happens in state government (the report sitting idle on a shelf afterward, collecting dust), SB 9 includes a brilliant mechanism that ensures action.

The legislature would be eager to read the report and the accompanying bill draft incorporating its recommendations and act on it because the entity would otherwise sunset (i.e., terminate). Thus, the name: the Alaska Sunset Commission. We can guess too that the executive branch would be eager to support and cooperate with the legislature in this task. The sunset provision gives the needed “teeth” to make sure the recommendations aren’t ignored.

Ten other states have sunset commissions, and they are effective. The Texas Sunset Commission testified in our bill hearing in Senate State Affairs and 80% of the recommendations offered by the Commission since its establishment in 1977 have been taken up and passed by their legislature. That’s impressive. The return on investment is $18 for every $1 invested in the work of the Commission. That’s also impressive.

Hundreds of millions have been saved; departments have made structural improvements; entities within departments have been combined; other entities in departments have been enhanced with updated processes, better software, and additional staff; and some entities whose useful lives have ended have been dissolved.

The result? Increased public trust that the people are getting the most for their tax bucks.

Here’s how it would work. The Commission, comprised of nine individuals from the private sector with financial, budget analysis, accounting, operations management, efficiency engineering and other areas of expertise who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature, have a team of auditors who conduct extensive cost and performance reviews on a rotating schedule and prepare reports.

The Commission then votes which recommendations from staff reports to include in their final report. Those recommendations are also incorporated in bill draft form and provided to the legislature along with the report. To prevent an entity from sunsetting and its statutory duties falling to the department’s office of the commissioner, the legislature takes up the bill and acts on the recommendations in the audit report.

The annual audit reports will also be available to the executive branch for purposes of both performance and structural improvements within departments as well as for the construction of the governor’s budget each year.

The rotating schedule over a repeating 12-year period will include all 15 departments, the Office of the Governor, the Legislative branch, the Judicial branch, and the University.

The size and scope of government can be difficult to grasp and understand, and too often unwieldy and hard to control. Currently, the House and Senate Finance members are asked in a matter of a few months to figure out what is going on in each of the sixteen departments; essentially their window is what the executive branch provides. With this limited information and in short order, legislators are tasked with making decisions each year involving spending billions of public dollars.

Access to an extensive audit will help hold future governors accountable to building a responsible budget, will aid legislators in appropriating public dollars wisely, and will shore up public confidence that the people are getting the most bang for their buck.

We need and should establish the Alaska Sunset Commission as part of putting our fiscal house in order, as part of our fiscal plan.