McDonnell's Reform Committee Meets For First Time
On Friday Governor McDonnell’s Commission on Government Reform held their first meeting, sharing ideas to streamline the way the state does business. Craig Carper reports.
The 31-member bi-partisan commission will be volunteering their time, having meetings and working in subgroups through August.
Governor McDonnell has previously encouraged various reform proposals including privatizing state-run liquor stores and the state’s vehicle fleet. But he says there are dozens of other ideas as well.
McDonnell: There is still a lot of what I’d call low hanging fruit, consolidating some agencies, reducing some parts of state government that aren’t working well. Using more technology, putting more things online and getting rid of paper. There’s a long list of those proposals, along with ABC privatization, that would justify a special session.
Fred Malek, the Chairman of the Reform Commission, cites the urgency of the situation.
Malek: We have a crisis in the state budget. If you take a normal two-year cycle, we would have revenue increases of 7 percent a year. We don’t. We have a revenue decrease of 12 percent over a two-year cycle.
To learn more about the group, you can go to www.reform.virginia.gov.
Craig Carper, WCVE News, Capitol Square.
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