Legislature done, Guinn turns to state’s problems

Wednesday, June 2, 1999 | 11:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Fresh from a successful Legislature, Gov. Kenny Guinn turns his attention to fixing problems in government, such as the telephone system snafu involving unemployed workers in Las Vegas and whether the state may be losing $30 million in tax revenue because state agencies are not working together.

The Republican governor said Tuesday he also will try to repair the state employees group insurance system and restore benefits to its 47,000 members without raising premiums. He will examine the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, where worker morale has dipped.

And he wants to make sure Employers Insurance Co. of Nevada, formerly the State Industrial Insurance System, is strong enough financially to withstand private competition.

In an interview after five months on the job, Guinn said, "State government is the most difficult job I will have tackled, just judging from my limited experience so far.

"It's more spread out. It doesn't have the freedom and flexibility you would have in other public agencies like school districts, the university or cities and counties. And it doesn't have the flexibility for rapid management changes you would have in the private sector."

The governor is pleased at the outcome in the Legislature, where an estimated 90 to 95 percent of his program passed. But now he has to deliver -- to show that he can make things run more efficiently.

Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, believes Guinn will measure up to the job. "He's a hands-on guy," Dini, who has been around state government since 1967, said. He compared him to former Gov. Mike O'Callaghan as two chief executives who keep close tabs on government agencies. O'Callaghan is now executive editor and chairman of the Las Vegas Sun.

The 61-year-old Guinn believes he has already shown he can govern but, "What I have to do now is show people my management style."

Talking about the problems of jobless workers in Las Vegas in trying to contact the state Division of Employment Security through its new phone system to file claims, Guinn said, "It's not working well and it's got to be changed.

"We have got to make quick decisions to make sure it's corrected. Here we've got someone laid off with a family and we can't ask them to call 52 times."

But that's not his only concern. "I read in the newspaper we're missing $30 million in tax revenue because things are not coordinated," Guinn said. "That's the thing I'm interested in. We have to find how how things can be coordinated."

He wants to sit down with Secretary of State Dean Heller and state Taxation Director David Pursell and find some solutions.

"We owe that to the public," Guinn said. "I don't know which one should be doing it. But I guarantee than when the three of us sit down, we will figure it out."

The state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, one of the biggest agencies in state government, has been a headache for years. Complaints about the long lines to register a car or get a driver's license have subsided. But there's a morale problem in the agency.

"There are lots of employees voicing concern," Guinn said. "We have met with a number of them from all levels." He asked the Legislature, and it agreed, to hold off approval of a reorganization plan until he has six months to study it.

Guinn said his choice for director of motor vehicles won't be a law enforcement official, as has been the case for the past 20 years. "We end up with law enforcement people running DMV and DMV is management. It's service and it has nothing to do with law enforcement."

During his initial months in office, the governor divided his time between the Legislature and such problems as the computer system of the state Welfare Division and the employee health plan.

The Legislature had to pump an additional $26 million into the health system to keep it alive. Guinn said the system has broken even for the past two months, something it hasn't done for a long time.

"We're now paying 85 percent of all claims within 10 days and 88 percent in less than 22 days. I know we're making progress because I look at it every week."

In January 2000 there is a 12.5 percent increase planned in premiums for dependents and retirees. Guinn hopes he can avoid that while at the same time reinstating some of the major benefits slashed last year to keep the system from falling further into the red.

The welfare computer system, nicknamed "Nomads," started out as a $22.5 million project in 1989. It has now cost more than $100 million and has yet to turn out an official report. The Legislature allocated $5 million to pay off federal fines because the system has not met its deadlines.

Federal money to develop the system was cut off in 1998, Guinn said. But it has started to flow again. Of the $5 million paid in fines, he hopes to recover $3.2 million by having the system operating in September 2000.

"I can't guarantee anything because I'm grabbing hold of something toward the end, but our staff feels good," Guinn said, adding that county files are being converted into the state system, a major undertaking.

Although the system is 10 years old, Guinn said it never had a plan for converting the information in the old computer programs to the new ones. "You can write any computer program you want. You can have it ready but if you are not running a parallel system for the conversion ... you didn't spend your money very well."

Ending the 86-year-old state-operated workers' compensation system and converting it to a private company will take a lot of the governor's attention. Starting July 1 there will be open competition with private companies. And in January 2000, Employers Insurance Co. of Nevada will become private.

It is "well capitalized" now with more than $310 million, the governor said. If a large number of the 44,000 covered employers leave the system, the company will survive, he said. This company will be "smaller but stronger."

There are a lot of roadblocks to improving government but Guinn says, "I have no apprehension about showing results. It's been my forte," referring to his jobs as Clark County School superintendent, as a chief executive in banks and utilities and as interim president at UNLV.

"Every place I worked, I've shown tremendous results," he said.