We Have 183 State Boards?

That is the question which leaped out of my mind when I saw this at Nevada News Bureau:

They have names like the Landscape Architecture Board, the Nevada Arts Council and the Commission on Mineral Resources, and there are more than 180 of them functioning within Nevada state government.

Gov. Brian Sandoval says it’s time to take a look at these dozens of boards and commissions to determine if they are still needed or if some can be consolidated or eliminated in the name of government efficiency…

Yeah, no kidding, governor.  This isn’t really a surprise – meaning, that it is no surprise that we have a deluge of government agencies looking in to all facets of life in Nevada.  It is surprising that in a low tax, libertarian-conservative State like Nevada that we’ve still managed to pile up 183 of them.  Imagine what it must be like in places like California and New York!

Each and every agency of government should be forced to present a written justification of itself each legislative session.  The report should detail:

1.  Will anyone die if the agency is closed down?

2.  Will anyone die if it is cut by 50%?

3.  How many people directly benefit from the actions of the agency?  Provide sworn statements from at least 12 people who have benefited from the agency in the past 12 months.

4.  How many people are employed by the agency?  For how long?  What is the total payroll, including benefits?  What is the ratio of managers to staff?

Such information will aid legislators and the public to determine the worthiness of any particular group and apply a cost-benefit analysis to it.  And, of course, any agency which answers “no” to 1 and 2 and which cannot obtain 12 statements is probably something we don’t need to be doing.

The problem with cutting Big Government is that it is, indeed, so darned big.  People are squirreled away in bureaucratic cubby holes and no one really knows what they do or what would happen if a cut was made.  Meanwhile, the government employee unions put out the propaganda that all cuts are cuts to teachers, police and firefighters and we’ll all die if we don’t keep the funding up.  Forcing each agency to justify itself would cut through that nonsense and let us know just how big the Big Government is.  It’ll provide us a road map to a balanced budget, as it were.

We must get this beast under control – it is sucking the life blood out of our State and as we are already bankrupt (that, in the end, is what our budget deficit proclaims), it is time for a complete overhaul of government.

Read more at Noonan for Nevada