Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 23, 1999
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Governor's Budget Office, 360-902-0619

Locke wants to cut state government jobs and start contracting out new services

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke said today that he will reduce Washington state government employment by at least 1,500 full-time positions by the end of the current biennium. The governor also wants new services contracted out to the private sector.

Locke said he will reduce state employment primarily through attrition, targeted early retirement, and management efficiencies.

The workforce reduction is part of Locke's plan to downsize state government while improving efficiency in the delivery of state services. Savings from downsizing would go to addressing impacts of Initiative I-695 and continuing improvements the governor is committed to making in the public school system.

"The people have said they want more efficient, effective government," the governor said. "We've been working on this since I took office, and now we're going to redouble our efforts."

Locke said the Savings Incentive Program, which encourages state agencies to redirect savings to school construction, higher education, and technology to improve state employee productivity, has generated $159 million for those purposes since 1997.

The governor said he has issued a directive, effective immediately, that instructs all state agencies to identify any new state service that can be contracted out to a private service provider.

"Many of our state's new services could be delivered faster, cheaper, and more efficiently by contracting out," the governor said. "I want to push state government in a direction that builds partnerships with the private sector for the best use of our taxpayers' dollars."

Locke also said he has directed his new budget chief, Marty Brown, director of the Office of Financial Management, to coordinate an effort by agency directors to identify additional opportunities to:

* Reduce state employment through attrition, targeted early retirement, and management efficiencies.
* Re-assign existing staff to higher-priority activities.
* Carefully scrutinize new hiring and staffing decisions.
* Expand employee incentive programs for quality customer service.
* Better control expenditures on travel, equipment, and leasing costs.
* Identify and eliminate fraud in government.
* Expand on-line government services to provide easier access for the public.

The governor said that his supplemental budget proposal to the 2000 Legislature will reflect a reduction of more than 1,500 positions, including 500 directly resulting from efficiency improvements. The others are due to reductions resulting from passage of I-695.

Voter approval of I-695 repealed the state motor vehicle excise tax, which provided funding for local-government public safety and health services, local transit districts and state transportation programs. The governor has said his 2000 supplemental budget proposal to the Legislature would include funding to help local governments provide basic levels of public safety services.

The governor said he also would propose in the next legislative session his High-Performance Government initiative to improve the accountability, flexibility, and competitiveness of the state workforce through civil service reform. The legislative package includes:

* Authorizing agencies and higher-education institutions to contract out existing state services.
* Expanding collective bargaining so state employees have the same bargaining rights as city and county employees.
* Streamlining the state's cumbersome job-classification system.

Locke said he wants to improve the state's management of contracts and further reduce Medicaid and other fraud.

The governor said he also will improve direct delivery of state services to Washington residents through consolidation of customer service programs that will provide "one stop" service on the Internet, as well as by phone.

"State government needs to be respond to the needs of its customers in the Internet culture of the 21st century," Locke said. "That's why we have looked at ways to do business with citizens through the Internet. We now have a state web site with links to all state agencies and services called Access Washington. Another example is the service that allows businesses to pay their state taxes via the Internet with the electronic filing system developed by the Department of Revenue."

Locke said 49.6 percent of state job growth in recent years has been in higher education, where new teaching staff is necessary to match increasing enrollment, and 12.2 percent in corrections, where new staff is necessary to run new prisons built to meet the mandate of tougher sentencing laws for criminals.

Since the governor took office, general government employment is declining in terms of jobs per 1,000 of state population. The number of state workers per 1,000 of state population will have declined by nearly 5 percent over the length of Locke's first term in office.

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