Ordinance would repeal ban on carrying guns in VC

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and the head of his new anti-government waste panel said Wednesday the state has an outdated bureaucracy that needs to be streamlined quickly given the current economic downturn that has cut into tax revenues.

Gibbons and Bruce James commented as the governor signed an order creating the Spending and Government Efficiency, or SAGE, Commission, which is modeled after former President Reagan's Grace Commission that in 1984 produced nearly 2,500 ideas for cutting government waste.

James, credited with turning around the federal Printing Office which he ran from 2002 to 2007, described Nevada's state bureaucracy as "19th Century" and "patchwork," and said the goal is to come up with moneysaving plans that cut across all agencies.

Gibbons and James said past government efficiency reports will be reviewed, and agency leaders and staffers will be asked for ideas. The governor repeated his earlier comment that he doesn't want another study that "sits idle on a shelf and collects dust."

The effort will be bipartisan, Gibbons said, noting that legislative leaders have been asked to name half of the 12 members of the SAGE Commission.

The commission won't operate on government funds. James estimated the panel's costs at about $500,000 a year, but said grants from foundations will be asked to help support the effort. A small executive staff will be paid, but commission members won't.

"It is critical that we take this step, simply because we are a rapidly growing state but we're also going through a short-term period of economic turbulence," Gibbons said.

The governor added that taxpayers "are anxious to make sure the revenues being spent by the state are being spent efficiently and effectively."

Gibbons may have to run state government in the next two-year budget cycle on a spending plan that won't grow beyond the current $6.8 billion budget, which covers state spending through mid-2009.

The spending plan being prepared by state Budget Director Andrew Clinger and agency directors will cover the next two-year period running through mid-2011 - and may not have more dollars despite ever-increasing service demands caused by growth.

Agency spending plans are due at Clinger's office by Sept. 1, and that will be followed by back-and-forth discussions between the agencies and the governor's office until a final plan is ready for the 2009 Legislature.

The current budget has gone through big changes as a result of a revenue shortfall projected to top $900 million by mid-2009. Gibbons ordered a 4.5 percent cut in budgets for most agencies in January. He and legislative leaders followed up in April with still more reductions.

While the reductions delayed many state building projects and some new programs, the plans so far have avoided layoffs of state workers or cuts in operating budgets of government agencies, and preserved scheduled pay raises for state employees and teachers.