The SAGE Commission is intended to conduct serious business, but it was born amid jokes.
Spending and Government Efficiency — now there’s an oxymoron. Democrats and Republicans working together on budget streamlining — now there’s an oxymoron. A sage look at government — now there’s an oxymoron.
You get the picture. But amid all the snideness, the early signs — emphasis on “early” — are that the commissioners are approaching this endeavor with an honesty and thoughtfulness that bodes well.
Don’t laugh just yet, folks. After three meetings, the most recent one Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans on the panel constituted by Gov. Jim Gibbons say it may actually do some real, lasting good.
“Going into SAGE, I was actually pessimistic,” one member said. “At this point, I guess I am guardedly optimistic.”
Another seemed to marvel at how the group is composed of “sincere, qualified, talented commissioners with no agenda other than to do something to help the state.”
Unlike some of these government panels, this one appears to be organized and well-staffed, with the inclusion of peerless ex-Budget Director Perry Comeaux a coup — “an asset you can’t quantify,” as one sage SAGE insider put it.
Enough with the encomiums. So what are they really doing?
A lot on the two fronts that matter: coming up with substantive ideas and getting as many as they can before the 2009 Legislature, which is where the governor appears to be preparing to take his meat cleaver to the state’s services.
Chairman Bruce James, the former U.S. printer who made that office more businesslike and has received good reviews from the SAGE members for his ecumenical approach, said the commissioners have “an appetite to embrace (certain) ‘big’ items for inclusion by December, keeping the Legislature informed as we go so they can prepare for any work they may choose to do.”
The areas they have targeted are the right ones, the big-ticket items — i.e., health care, the retirement system, prescription drugs, public works and the DMV.
Drawing on common-sense proposals from inside state government and from advocacy groups such as the spending-obsessed (and unlike Gibbons possessed of actual facts) Nevada Taxpayers Association, the commissioners are considering ideas such as overhauling the Public Works Board, merging some departments, centralizing some functions and decentralizing others, and sunsetting some tax exemptions and laws.
This is all common-sense stuff, but it has never been synthesized, much less implemented. And the suggestions on the table — almost two dozen — presage, I think, what the ultimate findings will be.
The ideas so far could save the state about a billion dollars over the next five years — that is not pennies, but the state budget during that period will be about $40 billion or $50 billion. Yes, they are just getting started, but we are not talking about some massive “spending problem,” in the governor’s frequent formulation. (You can see the spreadsheet
of the initial proposals, which may be presented
to Gibbons at the end of next month, at
www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/ralstons-flash/.)
One of the reasons I have given this exercise not just the benefit of the doubt but encouragement is that if it is done right, it will achieve two important objectives. First, it will prove to the Bob Beers/Jim Gibbons wing of the GOP that although there is waste in government, it is not overflowing. And two, it will give credibility to any proposals to change the tax structure and infuse more money into the areas streamlined by the SAGE Commission.
Some of this will be painful, especially for state workers used to Cadillac benefits. And some legislative Democrats will be close-minded, as they were when Gov. Kenny Guinn first proposed overhauling those retirement benefits. But unless the Carson City Democrats agree to some of these serious steps — and the SAGE Democrats must show them the way — you will never get legislative Republicans to consider more money in so many areas. Nor should they.
There remain myriad impediments to success.
Gibbons is unlikely to be of any help in elevating the discussion. He should accept the credit for creating SAGE and then get out of the way and let the discussion take place over his head.
The commission also will be hampered by not having the education budget under its purview, a situation that should be changed. And special interests will reflexively oppose some of the proposals — and those folks have influence with lawmakers.
Perhaps all of this can be surmounted. I know what you are thinking: That sounds like a joke, too.
Let’s hope not. By the end of the 2009 session, perhaps nobody will be laughing, yet the results will make a lot of people smile.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy