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The state of the State
As Gov. Jim Edgar begins the second half of his term as the state's lead policymaker, he must consider his campaign promises of making some real changes in how state government delivers services. One way to gauge policy changes envisioned by Edgar is to look at the task forces that he has appointed. Since taking office, he has formed eight task forces, four of which are to have reported by the end of January and a fifth is due the end of February. Two have finished their work, and one has just started. Governor's Health Care Reform Task Force. The main assignment of this 36-member task force appointed in November is to focus on how the state can best "meet [its] responsibility to provide health care to the poor" (see Illinois Issues, August/September 1992, page 18). Included in that charge is whether or not the state should continue the Medicaid assessment program that will bring the state more than $735 million in additional federal dollars this fiscal year. The assessment program passed last year was a one-year deal. Chaired by Ernie Wish, retired from Coopers & Lybrand, a Chicago health care consulting firm, the task force expects to give the governor recommendations by February 1, as he requested. Wish says that his best guess, in light of the promises made by President Clinton on health care reform, is that there will be some federal legislation by the fall of next year. Until that time Wish says it is the aim of the task force to present a plan to the governor that will allow him and the legislature more flexibility. Illinois Task Force on Crime and Corrections (see Illinois Issues, December 1992, page 17). Some of the recommendations that this task force is expected to make in its final report (deadline extended to March 1) may foreshadow the difficulties Gov. Edgar will face during the upcoming budget negotiations. The task force wants to add 1,650 prison beds by expanding space in existing facilities, converting the East St. Louis Assumption High School building and constructing a new "super-max" prison to house the "baddest of the bad" prisoners who disrupt productive programs: price tag, $100 million. In naming the 21-member task force in February 1992, Gov. Edgar said he wanted it to look for "cost-effective alternatives to building one prison after another." The task force will recommend alternatives such as boot camps and electronic monitoring. In-house programs such as expansion of earned time (time subtracted from sentence for participation in drug treatment, GED classes, etc.) and prison industries are also among the task force's recommendations. Governor's Task Force on Higher Education. The governor announced formation of this task force in his 1992 budget address. He wanted it to evaluate the current structure and governance of higher education the so-called system of systems and make recommendations to improve the quality and delivery of services. Co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra and Arthur F. Quern, chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the task force will refine its June 1992 interim report but not add any new issues to its final report, according to Mary Barber
8/February 1993/Illinois Issues Reynolds, spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Kustra. In its interim report last June, the task force recommended two options for realigning the governance of public universities, one by similar type and mission and the other through decentralization (see Illinois Issues, August/September 1992, page 26). The governor asked the task force for one recommendation in its final report. According to Jim Bray, Kustra's chief of staff, the task force will recommend that seven of the eight universities now under the governance of the Board of Governors and the Board of Regents will each have a separate board. The eighth, Sangamon State University, will be governed either by the University of Illinois or Southern Illinois University. Also at issue in the task force recommendations are changing the University of Illinois board from an elective to an appointive board and granting more power to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, now a planning and coordinating board. Water Resources and Land Use Priorities Task Force (see Illinois Issues, August/September 1992, page 52). Formed last May to focus on conflicts between interest groups, the task force is co-chaired by Becky Doyle, director of the Department of Agriculture, and Brent Manning, director of the Department of Conservation. Members are primarily private citizens. Allen Grosboll, executive assistant to the governor for environmental regulation, says members were chosen not only for their expertise in one area but also because many of them "have a foot in both camps." For example, Debbie Burrus of Arenzville is a preserve steward with The Nature Conservancy's Volunteer Stewardship Network and is a member of the Burrus Seed Corn family and active in farm issues. Gov. Edgar has asked the task force to recommend ways state agencies can "better coordinate and cooperate to serve the overall public interest." Governor's Task Force on Workforce Preparation. As the demographics of Illinois continue to change, perhaps the most ambitious reforms will be recommended by this 17-member task force. It was established to implement the recommendations of another task force (named by former Gov. James R. Thompson), the Governor's Task Force on Human Resource Development. That group reviewed existing programs and identified obstacles hindering the development of an efficient workforce preparation system. Gov. Edgar outlined his plan to reform state job training and employment in his State of the State message last spring (see Illinois Issues, June 1992, page 14). The governor asked the task force members leaders in education, labor and business to help refine legislation that was rebuffed by the General Assembly last year. The only initiative that was passed was the coordination of job training for recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with the community college system under the Opportunities program (formerly called Project Chance). Stalled last spring but expected to be pushed again this session by the governor is the recommendation to transfer the administration of adult education programs from the State Board of Education to the Illinois Community College Board. That change is key in this year's legislative session in order for Edgar to get the overhaul he wants in the state's delivery of job training services. Governor's Task Force on AIDS in Health Care. Reporting its recommendations in June 1992, this group was assigned the task of making recommendations to carry out the requirements of the law passed in spring 1992 that permits the Department of Public Health (DPH) to notify patients of health-care providers infected with the HIV virus (Senate Bill 999/PA 87-763). The task force found that there was little to be gained by routine screening for and notification of HIV infection in health care workers, but it encouraged health care workers to know their own status. It recommended health care workers observe universal precautions prescribed by the medical community (gloves, masks, etc.). It also recommended setting up expert review panels to assist in identifying any changes that might be called for in a health care worker's practice. Chet Kelly, administrator of DPH's AIDS activity section, says that the need for changes in a health care worker's practice would be "the exception rather than the rule." Tom Schafer, chief of communications for DPH, says that the department is still pursuing some provisions of the act. Implementation of any large-scale notification, if necessary, is hampered by the General Assembly's line-item appropriation of one dollar to carry out PA 87-763. Illinois Task Force on Advanced Telecommunications and Networking. The task force was established in September 1991 "to explore the implications of rapidly changing telecommunications technologies and to foster public-private ventures that assure government and business will be poised to profit from the new technology." It issued its report to Edgar on April 13, 1992, detailing ways in which state government can help small and medium-sized businessess take advantage of improving telecommunications technologies. According to Donald Frey, co-chair of the task force, the report was more of a "think piece" directed toward the future. Task Force on Global Climate Change. The most recently formed task force was established by House Joint Resolution 81 (1991) and formed in late October 1992. Its charge is to address issues that may shape the national environmental policy. The task force expects to be ready to advise the governor if and when the federal government begins enacting new legislation that may affect Illinois. The 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act, says Grosboll, caught Illinois off guard and have hurt industries like coal mining. Led by global climate change expert Stanley Changnon (see Illinois Issues, May 1990, page 20), the task force will report to the governor by March 1994. Gov. Edgar's task forces, taken together, indicate a commitment to change, a movement toward restructuring and streamlining tired, multi-layered bureaucracies that duplicate services and use resources needed elsewhere. Much of Edgar's first year in office was absorbed by redistricting and budget cutting maneuvers, and 1992 saw more budget cutting and consumptive electioneering. Undoubtedly 1994 will be another year given to more electioneering with the governor's campaign. That leaves 1993 as the year for Gov. Edgar to prove to voters that he not only has the vision but also the political savvy to accomplish effective, efficient change.
February 1993/Illinois Issues/9 |
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