The Government Restructuring Task Force says it wants the public to identify waste and then suggest ways to cut it.
You can submit your thoughts online here. Comments will be posted to start a discussion about the ideas.
The group is working to see what it can do to make government more efficient and effective -- words not usually used in the same sentence, unless of course there's a budget crisis.
"The members of the task force sincerely believe that some of the best ideas for improving state government performance will come from the public who receives services and from the employees who actually provide the services," Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, the task force's vice chairman, said in a statement.
The committee meets again in late July.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Report: Secretary of State's Office e-mails missing
Check out this piece from KUNM's Jim Wiliiams on how the Secretary of State's Office deleted or is hiding e-mails Williams asked for as part of a story he's working on.
The story raises the broader topic of e-mails in state government that aren't being kept and produced under the state's Inspection of Public Records Act as required. This issue has already come up at the Public Regulation Commission, where nobody is following the policy of forwarding public e-mails to an address for retention. The PRC has said it will revisit the issue and make changes to the policy.
The story raises the broader topic of e-mails in state government that aren't being kept and produced under the state's Inspection of Public Records Act as required. This issue has already come up at the Public Regulation Commission, where nobody is following the policy of forwarding public e-mails to an address for retention. The PRC has said it will revisit the issue and make changes to the policy.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
More legislative committees to be webcast
Chalk up another one for open government. The Legislative Council today approved a measure to allow the webcasting of interim committees. The meetings -- where actually a lot of leg work on key bills gets done -- are usually held around the state in the summer.
But to save money, the meetings this year are at the Capitol.
Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones pushed for the meetings to be webcast and wrote a letter urging the chairperson of every committee to do so. Rep. Jeff Steinborn, who also worked on webcasting legislation this year, applauded the move in a statement.
"This is another step in the right direction. We are always looking for ways to make government more transparent and accessible to the public. Webcasting is a useful service for our constituents," he said.
The webcasts and the schedule of upcoming interim meetings is on the Legislature's website.
But to save money, the meetings this year are at the Capitol.
Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones pushed for the meetings to be webcast and wrote a letter urging the chairperson of every committee to do so. Rep. Jeff Steinborn, who also worked on webcasting legislation this year, applauded the move in a statement.
"This is another step in the right direction. We are always looking for ways to make government more transparent and accessible to the public. Webcasting is a useful service for our constituents," he said.
The webcasts and the schedule of upcoming interim meetings is on the Legislature's website.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Denver Post looks at the Spaceport
For all the money being spent at the Spaceport, we don't hear too much about the project these days. But the Denver Post has an interesting piece out on the endeavor.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
PRC not maintaining public e-mails
The Public Regulation Commission will redo its policy dealing with public e-mails after one that requires employees to forward all public e-mails for retention wasn't working.
I came upon the story after asking for the e-mails of Mo Chavez, who recently resigned from his post as the state insurance superintendent. A response to the records request I filed turned up only e-mails sent to his account after he left the job. But it wasn't just Chavez who hadn't sent the e-mails on for retention. No one was forwarding e-mails to a specific address as the policy requires.
I came upon the story after asking for the e-mails of Mo Chavez, who recently resigned from his post as the state insurance superintendent. A response to the records request I filed turned up only e-mails sent to his account after he left the job. But it wasn't just Chavez who hadn't sent the e-mails on for retention. No one was forwarding e-mails to a specific address as the policy requires.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sloan removed from office
The state Supreme Court has voted to remove Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan from office, a PRC spokesman confirmed.
One source said Sloan's belongings were being removed from her office in the PERA Building this afternoon.
Sloan is facing up to 12 years in prison and was ineligible to run again.
It's unclear at the moment who will fill out the rest of her term. Theresa Becenti-Aguilar won the Democratic primary election for the commission's District Four seat while Republican Gary Montoya won the Republican primary in June.
One source said Sloan's belongings were being removed from her office in the PERA Building this afternoon.
Sloan is facing up to 12 years in prison and was ineligible to run again.
It's unclear at the moment who will fill out the rest of her term. Theresa Becenti-Aguilar won the Democratic primary election for the commission's District Four seat while Republican Gary Montoya won the Republican primary in June.
More trouble at the PRC
A former employee has sued two other former employees after he says he was wrongly fired for pointing out wrongdoing.
See the story here.
Former insurance compliance director Aaron Feliciano says Danny Mayfield and Mo Chavez orchestrated his firing because Felicano complained internally about "violations of New Mexico law, malfeasance, waste and abuse of authority" and sought Attorney General Gary King's help "to enforce the Insurance Code and to halt the practices that (Feliciano) reasonably and in good faith believed constituted unlawful and/or improper acts."
It also says he was fired because he told Chavez that he couldn't recommend a friend of Chavez's for the position of chief investigator, and that the State Personnel Act instead required him to recommend eligible candidates for the position based solely on qualification and ability.
In addition, Feliciano says he voiced concerns regarding "inappropriate hiring of political contributors to conduct insurance examinations and ineffective and costly insurance examinations for which (Feliciano) refused to approve invoices."
Neither Chavez nor Mayfield commented on the case Tuesday, although Chavez said "What can you say if people can sue anybody for anything?" he said. "That doesn't mean there's any validity to it."
See the story here.
Former insurance compliance director Aaron Feliciano says Danny Mayfield and Mo Chavez orchestrated his firing because Felicano complained internally about "violations of New Mexico law, malfeasance, waste and abuse of authority" and sought Attorney General Gary King's help "to enforce the Insurance Code and to halt the practices that (Feliciano) reasonably and in good faith believed constituted unlawful and/or improper acts."
It also says he was fired because he told Chavez that he couldn't recommend a friend of Chavez's for the position of chief investigator, and that the State Personnel Act instead required him to recommend eligible candidates for the position based solely on qualification and ability.
In addition, Feliciano says he voiced concerns regarding "inappropriate hiring of political contributors to conduct insurance examinations and ineffective and costly insurance examinations for which (Feliciano) refused to approve invoices."
Neither Chavez nor Mayfield commented on the case Tuesday, although Chavez said "What can you say if people can sue anybody for anything?" he said. "That doesn't mean there's any validity to it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)