You asked for a list of the recommendations of the 1992 Commission to Effect Government Reorganization (known as the Hull-Harper Commission) that could have saved money and were not enacted or implemented.

SUMMARY

The Hull-Harper Commission reviewed governmental functions in several areas with an eye toward improving service delivery and reducing overhead costs. Commission members established task forces to study eight different functions and service areas, such as information technology, housing, and human services providers. The General Assembly enacted some but not all commission recommendations during the 1992 session.

Through a review of the commission's final report, including the recommendations of each task force, we identified items that the legislature rejected or that did not require statutory changes. However, the recommendations are general proposals to restructure some agencies and realize cost savings through overall efficiencies. Of the bills to implement the commission's recommendations that died in the 1992 session, none included specific money-saving proposals. Some of the recommendations are now moot after subsequent government reorganizations.

The major recommendations that have not been implemented proposed (1) creating a consolidated Department of Developmental and Rehabilitative Services for all programs related to mental health, mental retardation, and people with disabilities and (2) reorganizing higher education.

HULL-HARPER COMMISSION

PA 91-3, June Special Session, Section 48 authorized the Hull-Harper Commission to complete some of the work begun by the 1991 Thomas Commission. While the earlier Thomas Commission review studied the internal efficiency and operation of agencies covering almost 90% of the state's General Fund budget and employees, Hull-Harper reviewed fewer agencies, focusing on cross-organizational and coordination issues. It projected that cost savings could be realized from:

· coordination and uniformity in purchase of services,

· elimination of duplicative services,

· economies of scale, and

· reduced administrative costs.

The commission also looked at the mission of the agencies it reviewed and their need for strategic plans.

The Hull-Harper Commission established the following seven task forces to study the issues specified in the authorizing legislation and organized an eighth one in November 1991:

· Social services, including the possible merger of the departments of Human Resources, Income Maintenance, and Aging, and the Housing Department's rental assistance programs

· Educational services, including the internal structure of the departments of Higher Education and Education and their constituent units

· The service provider network

· Substance abuse prevention and treatment services

· Information technology

· Job creation and training, housing, and economic development, including the possible merger of the departments of Labor, Economic Development, and Housing

· Standardization of agency finance, budget, and purchasing practices

· Service delivery by the departments of Agriculture and Environment Protection

RECOMMENDATIONS

The thrust of the Hull-Harper Commission's recommendations was to realize efficiencies, with their accompanying savings, through restructuring and coordination among state agencies. Many of its recommendations were not particularly detailed or specific enough to track over the ensuing decade. A copy of the commission's March 1992 Final Report is available in the Legislative Library.

Some proposals were drafted as legislation, but not all the bills passed (see OLR reports 94-R-0100 and 96-R-1296, which deals with only the changes to the Department of Agriculture). Among those that passed, for example, the law created an Office of Finance in the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) (PA 92-135). But the legislature rejected the sweeping higher education reorganization proposal, though it did merge the administrative structures of the community and technical colleges that at the time were located in five communities while continuing service delivery at each existing campus site (PA 92-126).

Generally, the recommendations that might result in cost savings proposed some restructuring, a higher level of coordination between and among agencies with similar missions, and improved service delivery and internal management procedures. The specific task force recommendations listed below have not been implemented to date.

Social Services

The following portions of the recommendations to restructure the state's health and human services system were not implemented:

· Create a new, consolidated Department of Developmental and Rehabilitative Services combining the departments of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, the Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, the Board of Educational Services for the Blind, and all programs for people with disabilities in the former Department of Human Resources, including the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services


· Transfer day care licensing from the health department to the new Department of Social Services (DSS)


· Include in DSS the duties and responsibilities of the Commission on Hospitals and Health Care (which has since become the Office of Health Care Access)

Educational Services

The legislature rejected the bill implementing the higher education changes that, according to the commission, would have resulted in savings to the state. The provisions in SB 367, An Act Concerning Recommendations for Higher Education of the Commission to Effect Government Reorganization, would have:

· reorganized higher education under the Department of Higher Education and Board of Governors of Higher Education with two components: (1) the University of Connecticut System and (2) the Connecticut State University and College System including the Board for State Academic Awards (Charter Oak College), the state universities, the UConn regional branches, and the technical and community colleges

· consolidated the community colleges, the technical colleges, and the two-year UConn branches into five regional college campuses

Service Provider Network

Anne Foley in the Office of Policy and Management will provide the status of the commission's recommendations with respect to the state's efforts to purchase human services from private-sector organizations in the most cost-effective way. This report will be revised to include that information when we receive it.

Substance Abuse

Hull-Harper's recommendations focused on strengthening the former Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission's (CADAC) responsibility and accountability as the state's lead agency for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. They stressed coordination among state agencies with responsibilities in this area. Since then, the General Assembly placed that responsibility in the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and in 1997 created the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Policy Council (ADPC). The ADPC prepares the integrated, comprehensive statewide plan that Hull-Harper suggested CADAC should develop for prevention, treatment, and reduction of alcohol and drug abuse problems as well as an annual implementation plan.

Information Technology

Recommendations to combine OPM's Office of Information and Technology and the Department of Administrative Services' Bureau of General and Technical Services were addressed by PA 92-135's requirements for more cooperation between the two agencies. Since then, the commission's review results have been superseded by and accomplished through the creation of the Department of Information Technology (PA 97-9, June 18 Special Session).

Job Creation and Training

A few of the Job Creation and Training Task Force recommendations would improve efficiencies and may result in savings, but have not be implemented.

· Make the regional boundaries for service areas of the departments of Labor and Economic Development (subsequently Economic and Community Development (DECD)) coterminous


· Require DECD to track business movement in, out, and within the state (the Department of Labor publishes such a report)


· Encourage cooperation between the Department of Housing (now the responsibility of DECD) and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority to eliminate duplicate efforts and merge their functions like financing, underwriting, and construction oversight

Agency Finance, Budget, and Purchasing

Of the recommendations from the agency finance, budget, and purchasing task force, those proposing the creation of an Office of Finance were enacted through PA 92-135. That act also gave the comptroller certain responsibilities with respect to executive branch accounting systems. In fact, the comptroller is currently working with

DAS and DOIT on the joint Core-CT project, revising and developing an integrated system for accounting and personnel management. The project goal is to implement the human resources software on January 1, 2003 and the initial modules of the financial software on July 1, 2003.

The nature and extent of the commission's recommendations for developing the budget are somewhat obsolete. For example, the commission proposed instituting a "management by objectives" approach for controlling agency budgets and coordinating agency budgets with an automated budget system. OPM's Budget and Financial Management Division reports in the Digest of Administrative Reports 2000-2001 that it uses a process to systematically review and update agency program budgets, including a requirement to develop performance measures in the Governor's Biennial Budget. Agencies use an improved Automated Budget System, as the commission suggested.

Recommendations related to state agencies' purchasing procedures predate DAS' development of an e-procurement process that agencies can use to purchase items off the state contract or buy on-line. That system will soon be replaced by the portion of the Core-CT project for financial services.

Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Service Delivery

The recommendations to consolidate food inspections have not been instituted. The commission proposed consolidating within the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) food inspections in retail establishments and transferring from DCP to the Department of Agriculture the responsibility for inspecting non-dairy products such as juice at dairy processing facilities.

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