By Matt Clyburn
Less than a week before his budget address to a joint session of the Connecticut legislature on Wednesday, Governor Dannel Malloy unveiled another major restructuring Thursday that would reduce the number of budgeted agencies by 30 percent. If the reorganization is completed as currently proposed, it could be the largest of its kind in state history.
“I’m asking the people of Connecticut to do more with less, and we in state government need to, as well. I’ve reduced my own staff in the Governor’s Office by 15 percent, and I’m proposing to reduce the number of budgeted state agencies by 30 percent,” said Malloy. “I am serious about these proposals, and I am ready to work with the committees of cognizance in the legislature to make this happen.”
The new proposals are no strangers to the state political landscape – both of Malloy’s Republican predecessors attempted to pass similar consolidations, but faced firm opposition from the perennially Democrat-controlled legislature. Many believe that the homogeneous political affiliation in Hartford will allow for the plan to go through this year on the heels of other major reforms spearheaded by the first Democratic governor in nearly two decades.
“When putting together my budget, I had to ask – what sense does it make to split the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the Department of Public Safety? Or why are the Offices of Workforce Competitiveness and the Commission on Culture and Tourism stand-alone agencies, apart from the Department of Economic and Community Development?” Malloy asked in his Thursday press release.
Gov. Malloy continued, “Why are all of the government accountability functions – the Elections Enforcement Commission, the Freedom of Information Commission, the Judicial Review Council, the Contracting Standards Board, and the Office of State Ethics separate entities when so many of their issue areas and jurisdiction overlap? It just didn’t make sense.”
Republican legislators recently proposed a similar plan that would consolidate 43 of the 81 budgeted state agencies into 11. Malloy’s plan would shrink the total number from 81 to just 57.
“I’m excited about it,” House Republican leader Lawrence Cafero told the Hartford Courant Thursday. “I want to be very positive [because] just the change in attitude and mindset is exciting.”
While many Republicans seem to be happy with Malloy’s proposal, some used the circumstance to comment on a greater problem in the state’s government.
“It is absolutely a sign that our state is in very bad shape,” Republican State Senator John McKinney said. “Our government is too big, and, as it is currently constituted, unaffordable for the citizens of the state.”
Malloy’s senior staff has reported that the plan will save a projected $10 million in a time when the state faces an estimated $3.7 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The figures do not include the anticipated savings attached to last week’s proposal to consolidate the state higher education system into a single Board of Regents with a chief executive officer.
Many of the larger state agencies will remain unaffected, including the departments of labor, education, public safety, social services, transportation, veterans affairs, motor vehicles, and banking, among others. They will keep their department names and remain safeguarded from further consolidation – for now.
The functions of some merged agencies will be distributed to new or existing agencies. For example, the Board of Education and Services for the Blind will be divided between the Departments of Social Services and Education, respectively. Among the new agencies will be the Office of Governmental Responsibility, Department of Construction Services, and Department of Emergency Responder Training.
The governor’s office said that job elimination decisions would be at the discretion of agency leadership once the reorganization has gone into effect. When asked if the merging agencies will result in job cuts, Malloy told Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie Friday “I assume that will, in fact, occur.” While most state union employees are protected by negotiated contracts, Stuart reports, there are administrative employees in state government that could be at risk.
“This is a large shake-up, and I know there will be a number of questions,” Malloy said in the press release. “In the coming weeks and months, I’m going to be talking to people all across the state about my plan for a more streamlined and efficient Connecticut state government.”
