State creates department of redundancy department

The governor and 2011 Legislature have created a commission to review and seek out redundant and unnecessary boards and commissions.

But a review of existing law shows that commission itself, is redundant.

Senate Bill 251 creates the Sunset Subcommittee of the Legislative Commission to begin looking into whether Nevada really needs all the boards and commissions it has. The concept was supported not only by lawmakers but by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The language setting up the nine-member commission was added to that chapter - right below existing language which directs the Legislative Commission to conduct reviews of agencies "to determine whether each agency should be terminated, consolidated with another agency or continued."

The new language directs the commission to conduct reviews "to determine whether the board or commission should be terminated, modified, consolidated with another board or commission or continued."

Like the new language, the old language - which has been in statute since 1979 - sets up guidelines for determining whether an agency, board or commission should continue to exist.

Both new and old also set up a system for collecting reports from agencies and conducting public hearings on the status of specific agencies.

While the new language says "board or commission" and the old language says "agency," the 1979 statute clearly defines agency broadly enough to include boards and commissions: "Any public agency which the Legislature has designated to be the subject of a review by the Legislative Commission."

Senate Bill 251 was proposed by Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, and includes ideas from two other proposals as well. He said the original idea was for a review by an independent board of non-elected officials but that SB251 was the compromise.

"The point is it has to be done," he said. "It's ridiculous what's out there now."

Kieckhefer said at the least, the reviews will result in more efficiency.

"At best they'll make government more responsible and effective," he said.

The bill passed unanimously out of both the Assembly and Senate. But in light of the long standing state statute in NRS232B, one could argue that the commission created to seek out redundant, repetitive and unnecessary boards and commissions is, itself, redundant, repetitive and unnecessary.

Which raises the question: Should the new sunset commission's first order of business be to determine whether it should continue to exist?

Dale Erquiaga, senior adviser to Sandoval, said the governor made a similar proposal in his State of the State address. He said the bill is actually important because it sets parameters designed to make sure the reviews are done - something that hasn't happened since 1981 despite the existing statutory language. And he said it removes any confusion as to whether the term agency includes boards and commissions.

Sandoval adviser Dana Bennett said the governor's review of executive orders is proceeding with recommendations from the Sunset Task Force consisting of former State Sens. Ann O'Connell and Bill Raggio and Bernice Mathews.

Bennett said some of those executive orders date back more than 30 years and have never been rescinded. Under the task force's recommendation, those issued before 2003 will be allowed to expire. More recent orders, she said, will either go away or be extended based on whether they are still important.

The task force also recommended that future executive orders include several things such as an expiration date, a reporting requirement and compliance with the open meeting law.

She said the administration isn't looking at boards and commissions created by statute. Those must be looked at by the Legislature - the purpose of the new language added to the statute.

While it appears redundant, she said the new language does push the Legislative Commission to actually conduct the reviews. It directs a review of 20 entities each year with reports to the legislative panel on whether to eliminate, continue or modify each board.

But she said neither the administration nor the Legislature have a handle on all boards, commissions, committees and subcommittees operating in the state. That's because in addition to those created by statute and executive order, numerous existing commissions such as the Board of Health and the Commission on Aging have the power to create their own subcommittees without approval from the governor or lawmakers.