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House committee approves
Armstrong's bill to eliminate DSHS
Committee approves breaking super agency into four
smaller departments
The House State Government
and Tribal Affairs Committee unanimously approved a bill prime-sponsored
by
Rep. Mike
Armstrong that would eliminate the Department of Social and
Health Services (DSHS) and move its functions into four smaller
agencies.
"I'm elated that the
committee has moved so rapidly on this bill. A public hearing was held
on the bill today and I thought the committee would take action at a
later time. However, at the end of the meeting, the chairman decided we
needed to move forward today with a vote," said Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.
"I think the unanimous vote sends a strong message that reform is needed
within DSHS."
Under
House Bill 2197, DSHS would be eliminated by July 1, 2011, and its
powers, duties and functions would be transferred to the Department of
Economic Services, Department of Medical Assistance, Department of
Health and Rehabilitative Services, and the Department of Children's
Services.
"This agency has simply
become too big and unresponsive to the public's needs. The state has
tried to put too many governmental functions into one super agency, and
it has not worked. It's difficult to administer, costly, and it's very
hard to measure whether the agency is actually meeting its goals and
responsibilities," said Armstrong.
Armstrong, who serves as
the Republican leader on the State Government and Tribal Affairs
Committee, said he's received strong support for changing the way DSHS
is structured.
"There are 16 Democrats
and 17 Republicans who have signed onto this bill. That tells me they
are as frustrated as I am with the bureaucratic arrogance of DSHS. I
introduced this bill two weeks ago and not one administrator from DSHS
came to talk to me about it, as if they expected the measure to be dead
on arrival," noted Armstrong. "It was only today, when it appeared the
bill had support, that someone from DSHS caught up with me in an
elevator and said we should talk about it sometime."
The 12th District lawmaker
said that in light of the state facing an $8.3 billion budget deficit,
the timing is right to review DSHS and determine how it can operate more
efficiently with less dollars.
"More than 34 percent
of the state's total operating budget is directed to the administration of
DSHS. That's a tremendous amount of
money. We can save a lot of taxpayers' dollars by stripping away these different
layers of bureaucracy and becoming efficient in
delivery of services," concluded Armstrong.
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For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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