OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday she was disappointed that lawmakers did not make more aggressive cuts to the many boards and commissions that assess everything from midwifery to noxious weeds.
An initial bill filed in the Legislature would have eliminated some 32 commissions and saved about $5 million per year. But, in the middle of making $4.6 billion in budget cuts and pulling massive amounts of cash from education, lawmakers eventually saved many of the more prominent boards, and the final bill has negligible financial savings.
Only five commissions were cut.
“I had hoped we would do more,” Gregoire said after approving the cuts during a bill signing. “I do think it’s been long in coming, where in state government we keep adding and we never look back and ask ourselves, `Is the reason we wanted this in the first place still present today?”‘
More than 140 of the state’s boards and commissions were either eliminated or consolidated in the past two years. Gregoire had said in a budget proposal late last year that the state should eliminate another 36, including the Council for Children and Families, the Family Policy Council and the Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
She had argued that many of the commissions have good intentions but that the state can’t afford the time and resources it takes to manage them.
The final bill passed by lawmakers eliminates the Eastern State Hospital Board, the Firearms Range Advisory Committee, the Performance Agreement Committee, the Salmon Stamp Selection Committee, the Western State Hospital Board and the Home Care Quality Authority.
Two other panels will no longer operate, but some of their duties are transferred to state agencies.
“At least we made some additional progress,” Gregoire said.
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