First proposals from panel trying to save taxpayers’ money

Brendan Riley

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 12:24 p.m.

CARSON CITY - A plan to split the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety was endorsed Thursday by a special panel formed by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn to improve government efficiency.

Also suggested by the Committee to Conduct a Fundamental Review of State Government was a periodic review of all Nevada laws and regulations to identify antiquated or redundant provisions.

Past cleanup efforts have erased statutes dealing with stagecoach robbers and other laws that have outlived their usefulness. But panel members said reviews every 10 years or so are still needed.

The committee also voted for a formal tracking system - a data warehouse of sorts - for all federal and state grants and contracts to local governments and nonprofit entities.

"To me, this is a no-brainer," said Don Hataway, panel co-chairman and deputy state budget director, adding that it would help in making good decisions on grants and contracts.

The action marked the start of numerous votes expected by the committee. By the time it's done, the panel hopes to have a plan that the 2001 Legislature can use to make significant changes - and not just suggestions for more cooperation among agencies.

The panel didn't vote on a proposal to combine various domestic violence programs. That would include a transfer of the domestic violence grant program from the attorney general's office to a new executive-branch unit.

Critics included representatives of the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, who said consolidation doesn't always work, and it makes sense for Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's office to retain its program.

But committee member Dale Erquiaga said the office has taken on more programs than it should, turning into a Nevada "Department of Justice" that's involved in "social programming."

The domestic violence plan is one of many that will be reviewed at later committee meetings, including a session set for May 11.

Other proposals would eliminate Nevada's parole system and replace it with determinate prison sentencing; consolidate major tax-collecting functions of Gaming Control, Motor Vehicles and Taxation agencies into a new state Department of Revenue; and eliminate federal regulatory activities of the state Division of Industrial Relations.

The 16-member panel also will hear from Nevada's university and community college system and from other constitutional officers whose own reviews have paralleled those of agencies within the Guinn administration.

Guinn's appointed the committee because of the scare he received in January 1999, when he took office. Fiscal analysts predicted a big budget shortage. Even though the economy improved and the deficit dwindled, Guinn said the state should do all it could to trim costs.

The GOP governor has said the top-to-bottom review of state government could lead to the elimination of outdated programs, expansion of others and the privatization of some.