Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993                   TAG: 9402180002
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Margie Fisher
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HERE'S TO 'GOO-GOO'

State legislatures, generally, were broken-down instruments of government incapable of assuming their proper role in "the new federalism" (the political buzzword of that day), wherein Washington would return greater powers and responsibilities to the states. In a foreword to "The Sometime Governments," John Gardner, founder and then-chairman of Common Cause, wrote:

"A mere handful [of states] are able to fulfill the wide-ranging responsibilities for domestic government that are inherent to the concept of federalism. The remainder require very serious measures to bring them up to a tolerable level of governmental functioning. To place increased power or money in their hands, without at the same time providing for drastic steps to raise their effectiveness, would be the worst kind of folly."

Sad to say, Virginia's General Assembly did not rank among the mere handful. Overall, it was rated a dismal 34th in effectiveness. By the Citizens Conference's measuring sticks, it scored 25th as functional, ninth as accountable, 27th as informed, 26th as independent (from the executive branch), and 48th as representative of the people's interests.

Ouch!

Turning to specific shortcomings, the report faulted the assembly for (among other things) not doing continuous study of state resources and expenditures, not doing adequate budget review and analysis, not doing adequate program review and evaluation. In other words, of being legislative slouches.

Needless to say, the often-smug nabobs of "the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World" were mortified.

Should a similar study be conducted today, would the assembly get a better grade? Absolutely guaranteed - and a key reason is that in 1973 the assembly got itself a "watchdog" called JLARC.

JLARC, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, has, indeed, helped the legislature become more functional, more accountable, better informed, less vulnerable to executive-branch dictates and strong-arm tactics, and representative of public interest. There's virtually no state program or operation that's not subject to regular audit and review by the watchdog agency's staff, which translates into dramatically improved legislative oversight.

The creation of JLARC, of course, did not single-handedly bring the assembly up to 21st-century snuff. Electronic voting machines, computerization, the addition of highly competent staffs for committees, particularly the Senate Finance and House Appropriation "money" committees, and modern research capabilities in the Division of Legislative Services were all important innovations.

But JLARC has been the magnifying glass showing lawmakers countless examples of waste and mismanagement within state agencies that could be corrected. It has pinpointed unnecessary duplication of efforts from program to program that could be eliminated. It has recommended numerous actions, sometimes extraordinarily simple, that state-agency managers and bureaucrats could take to make their shops more efficient, productive and user-friendly.

To be sure, JLARC's staff has produced several controversial reports that have set teeth rattling in the executive branch. Its team of professionals, representing expertise in public administration and a wide variety of academic disciplines, has not been shy in calling misfeasance and nonfeasance the way it sees 'em. Neither has it been shy in taking on some of the legislators' own sacred cows.

For its "goo-goo" efforts (assembly shorthand for good government), JLARC's staff has been nationally recognized as one of the best of its type in the country.

In all the hubbub from the governor's office, for instance, over Financial World magazine's two-years-in-a-row ranking of Virginia as the best-managed state in America, JLARC quietly took a bow. One reason the magazine cited for Virginia's success was the "unmatched" quality of its legislative and executive-program evaluation.

JLARC's major studies and the results are summarized in its 20th Anniversary report to the General Assembly, released this past week. It does not make for gripping reading, except perhaps for incurable policy wonks, so I'll cut to the bottom line:

Dollar-and-sensewise, the legislature's agency has produced direct savings for taxpayers of more than $261 million. Other indirect savings, because its recommendations have been followed, are incalculable - but could well be in the billions over the 20-year period.

So, offhand, I'd say this watchdog is earning its Kibbles `n Bits.