REORGANIZATION of the state's executive departments and agencies under control of the governor may not directly stop the spiraling costs of the state's budget. But, if Gov. James Thompson and the General Assembly can agree on some means of restructuring the maze of services and responsibilities of existing agencies, the governor might be able to manage them better and the General Assembly might be able to evaluate the appropriations they pass to fund state services.
A basic reason for reorganizing the executive agencies should be to make it easier to find out who does what in state government. There are now about 65 major agencies plus almost 250 small agencies, boards and commissions which report to the governor. There are overlapping responsibilities. When a major problem arises, like the energy crisis, it is difficult for the governor to quickly get information and recommendations for action because the responsibilities for energy are so fractured.
The Illinois Task Force on Governmental Reorganization presented its recommendations ("Orderly Government"/Organizing for Manageability, November 3, 1976, xi + 344 pp) to the governor after his election in November. Thompson has made no commitment to follow any of the suggestions, but he has hired Paula Wolff, a staff member for the Task Force. She is responsible for Thompson's reorganization plans. The Task Force report includes general chapters which read like a primer for new governors. Its specific reorganization proposals are listed below, but the report is full of alternatives and methods of implementing changes, from a constitutional amendment to executive orders.
1. Consolidating most agencies into 14 major departments reporting directly to the governor and two education agencies headed by boards appointed by the governor.
2. Eliminating intermediate governing boards under the Board of Higher Education in favor of individual institutional boards.
3. Eliminating most statutory boards which perform administrative-type functions, unless required under federal law, in favor of advisory boards to department heads.
4. Transfer of independent quasilegislative and adjudicative boards to a related major department which would provide administrative support.
5. Transfer of all bond issuance and debt retirement responsibilities to an Office of Planning and Budget, with administrative functions of bonding authorities assigned to a related major department.
The key agency identified by the Task Force as the centralized administrative office for managing the spending of all departments is an expanded Bureau of the Budget (BOB), which Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie established. The first appointment Thompson made was Robert Mandeville as budget director.
Besides its specific proposals, the Task Force set down the following seven axioms "which apply generally to Illinois reorganization .... designed to improve management by attempting to apply, wherever possible, the principle of singleheaded administration."
While it encouraged use of advisory committees, the Task Force recommended they be appointed, not by the governor, but by the director of the agency which the group will advise. This would also put the responsibility of the agency directly on the shoulders of the agency director.
Licensing of all professionals should be done in one regulatory agency. The examination and promulgation of rules can be done by advisory boards composed of qualified members chosen by the director.
Industrial regulation should generally be done bythe director ofanagency, not by boards. Use of an advisory board or commission to promulgate and apply rules should be at the discretion of that director. The exception to this rule would be in the case of adjudicatory boards. These would be established by statute and be independent of the department, except for their administrative responsibilities.
Any board or commission used in licensing or regulation should include a significant number of consumers of the product or service produced by the regulated people/industry.
All other multiheaded administrative entities should be discontinued and the administrative part of their functions assumed by a director in a substantive department. One example is bonding authorities.
Legislative commissions should discontinue any administrative functions. The Task Force contends they should evaluate administrative activities in the executive branch, but feels that their involvement in actual administration is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine — keeping the executive branch separate from the legislative branch.
Coordinating mechanisms, such as "superdirectors" in charge of more than one agency, or cabinet subcouncils where directors of related departments meet together, can and should be used to coordinate programs where consolidation of departments is necessary but not likely to be accepted.
The Task Force, appointed by both gubernatorial candidates. Republican Thompson and Democrat Michael J. Howlett, was chaired by Donald R. Bonniwell, Sr., chairman of the board, Bonniwell and Company, Inc. Members included Robert Johnston, Region IV director. United Auto Workers of America; Donald S. Perkins, chairman of the board. Jewel Companies, Inc.; and Robert H. Strotz, president, Northwestern University.
A plan to reorganize state agencies related to energy will be recommended to the governor during the session by the Illinois Energy Resources Commission. The commission's Intergovernmental Committee, chaired by Rep. Joseph Lucco (D., Edwardsville), has spent over a year on the study./ C.S.G.ž
April 1977/Illinois Issues/25