Regulatory Reform

Improving Government Efficiency

Members of the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force are dedicated to making government more efficient, cost-effective and competitive. States across the nation are looking for opportunities and policies that encourage competition, innovation, and creativity among service providers to improve the quality of the state’s services.

Politicians and activists argue on how to do so. States are taking different approaches to determine how and where to create savings. With many states facing substantial fiscal dilemmas, privatization is a useful tool to reduce the cost of government and achieve higher performance in the delivery of goods and services. Privatization is the shifting of some or all aspects of government service delivery to private sector provision.  Privatization is the free-market approach that encourages competition, and in effect, a healthy, strong economy.

An independent decision-making body to evaluate government efficiency and manage privatization efforts can be valuable. Examples of this approach include Utah’s Privatization Policy Board, Texas’ Council on Competitive Government and Florida’s Council on Efficient Government, which played a role in helping former Gov. Jeb Bush’s administration advance over 130 privatization and competition initiatives, with cost savings estimated in the hundreds of millions.

Rather than taking piecemeal approaches to privatization, the privatization “center of excellence” concept would focus a dedicated team of officials and staff toward evaluating competition opportunities across agencies, establishing high standards in contracting and procurement, conducting due diligence in contracting, and monitoring vendor performance to ensure that privatization is applied sensibly and designed to deliver maximum value to taxpayers.

As the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Director of Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force myself and my colleagues are committed to working with state lawmakers and individuals within the private sector community to help promote the fundamental and traditional freedoms, for every citizen, which support the prosperity of the United States


In Depth: Regulatory Reform

In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson said that “the sum of good government” was one “which shall restrain men from injuring one another” and “shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry.” Sadly, governments – both federal and state – have ignored this axiom and…

+ Regulatory Reform In Depth