Reinventing Government
Dear Friends,
I hope you’ve had a pleasant summer. Last week, I finished the last of three town halls I held over the summer months. At these gatherings, I presented some of my key legislative accomplishments and more importantly, listened to our neighbors’ top-of-mind concerns. The topics of these town halls consisted of the issues I’ve most often heard at the doorstep: education; jobs & the green economy; and government accountability. I want to thank everyone who turned out for one or more of these events. They were successful in generating a lot of grounded discussion and good ideas.
Even though the Oregon Legislature isn’t in session, I’ve been intimately involved in addressing these issues, in part, by serving on various boards, roundtables and commissions. For instance, I’m one of two representatives from the legislature on the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission, which oversees the agency tasked with advancing our economy. At present, I’m heavily involved in re-structuring this state agency. The overarching objectives of this streamlining process are to: 1) better focus the agency on job and business creation; 2) keep and maintain a prioritized list of infrastructure improvements necessary for economic development; and 3) make the agency more accountable and innovative. The governor initiated the process via an executive order in March, in part, at my request. The agency has an able and energetic new executive director and we expect to have a final reorganization plan by the end of September.
I’m also working with the new State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and the Governor’s Office on restructuring our state’s workforce development system. Since the early 1990s, our state’s workforce development system has grown increasingly complex. Eight state agencies, the Governor’s Office, seven local boards, a state board, the workforce policy cabinet, numerous service providers and multiple business, labor and industry interests are currently involved in the workforce development system. In terms of general policy and budget development, public education, higher education and workforce development operate independently. As a result, our workforce development efforts are fragmented and lack strong accountability measures.
In addition, the K – 12 and higher education systems are not sufficiently integrated into the workforce development efforts and strategies of the state. As the principal institutions preparing young people for the workforce, they should place a strong emphasis on developing core academic and applied skills. That’s why, in part, I supported tough new high school graduation requirements that include a career readiness component. I want to see vocational education back in our public schools in a way that ensures all students get exposure to jobs that do not require a four-year degree, but pay a family wage. These are honorable, good-paying jobs and we are doing a disservice to our young people by not having strong vocational education programs in place around the state.
Our current proposal to restructure the state’s workforce development system has two components. The first component consists of making long-term, systemic changes to ensure our workforce development efforts are more responsive to the business community, accountable for outcomes and coordinated among affected agencies and industries. Basically, it means consolidating the current governance structure in a way that improves coordination and streamlines planning and decision-making.
The second component entails pursuing priorities to respond to current and emerging industry demands like clean technology. The primary activities here are to expand and prioritize training programs in industry sectors with a documented and immediate need such as manufacturing, clean technology and health care. And to develop pilot programs to determine how to best restore vocational and professional-technical education for our high school students.
When it comes to issues like education, the economy and jobs, I’ve focused on the ‘big picture.’ I’m not afraid to take on entrenched interests because, as I see it, my central charge is to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars. To do this, I’m working to streamline state agencies so they do business differently and at the same time, generate demonstrably better results. After years of budget-cutting, there’s little ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ that can be discovered through simple financial auditing. What we really need is a change in culture. Our state agencies need to adopt a culture of permanent re-invention. And I’m working hard to make that happen.