GOP Measure To Cut Boards Goes To House Floor

A House Republican plan to immediately eliminate nearly 20 state boards, committees and task forces garnered committee approval Monday, and now goes to the House floor for a vote.

"It's time to eliminate needless government that serves no purpose,"said Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah), author of House Bill 2111. "It's our job to make state government as efficient as possible. By trimming the fat and cutting non-essential boards and commissions, we can focus resources on the most vital state government functions."

House Bill 2111 passed the House General Government and Transportation Committee on Monday. The measure is part of a comprehensive effort by Cargill and House Republicans to focus on government accountability and efficiency.

The House has already passed House Bill 2100 - a measure that would establish an independent panel to review state agencies every eight years, with the first set of recommendations presented to the Legislature by December 1, 2008.

Cargill said that while conducting a state budget and agency review in January, House GOP leaders found 18 task forces, boards and councils that had either completed their work or have been inactive for some time. In some cases the list of task forces included entities that had been inactive for years, such as the "Joint Legislative Oversight Committee for the Review of Coordination of Efforts for Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy/Sexually Transmitted Disease" that had not met for a decade. Some, such as the "Task Force on Men's Health," have never met. Others, like the "Alzheimer's Research Advisory Council," duplicate work already performed in other areas of state government, Cargill said.

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