The recent national conversation around a federal “DOGE” – the Department of Government Efficiency – has sparked important conversations about streamlining government and reducing waste. The concept has merit, particularly for the federal government, which has tens of trillions of dollars in operating debt and many times more in long-term liabilities.
But Alabamians need to know that we always balance our budgets and have relatively low short- and long-term debt loads. Further, we already have a newly established organization to create more efficiencies in our state government and have already taken significant strides in this direction.
In 2019, we created the Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services (ACES), an office dedicated to improving both the effectiveness and efficiency of state government. Governor Ivey was a key early supporter and desired to make the effort a joint partnership between the executive and legislative branches. While maintaining a small staff, you will be pleased to know there have been some early successes.
Though slowed by the COVID pandemic, the office identified inefficiencies with the delivery of correctional education in our state, which led to streamlining the delivery of those services. Prisoner education and workforce training are tremendously important to reduce recidivism rates and give released individuals a pathway to leading a productive life outside of crime.
This year, the office identified the shortcomings of a state-funded program for K-12 students. The Alabama State Department of Education was able to use this information to throttle back the expansion of this program and refocus efforts on improving efficiencies. As with football, blocking and tackling, unfortunately, go ignored, but by getting deeply into programs, their costs, and delivery, our ACES team is moving the needle of improved outcomes behind the scenes.
The legislative and executive branches are relying on the skill and expertise of this office to advise on evaluations, outcomes, and reporting requirements. ACES recently examined the efficiency of our two state employee insurance boards and presented the findings to a joint study commission. While it is too early to predict wholesale changes, important findings were discovered.
The executive and legislative branches must work together to deliver the best, most efficient government to the people of Alabama. Rather than resort to “gotcha” moments seeking headlines, we continue to use data-driven analysis, performance metrics, and continuous improvement methodologies to identify areas for improvement. Further active collaboration with agency heads and policymakers helps with the implementation of innovative solutions and fosters a culture of efficiency and accountability. Such efforts save taxpayers money.
In the long run, politicians, unfortunately, many times try to score political points with grandstanding stunts and chicanery at the expense of others in government. By focusing on the task at hand of improving government, the governor and legislature are slowly making positive changes through the ACES concept.
While the development of a federal DOGE will hopefully be able to create tremendous savings in our bloated federal government, it’s crucial to acknowledge the progress already made within our state. We will continue to build on the early successes of our Alabama “DOGE” of saving taxpayer money and improving our government efficiencies to better serve the needs of all our Alabama citizens.
Senator Arthur Orr serves as chairman of the Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services (ACES) and sponsored its enabling legislation. He represents Limestone, Madison and Morgan Counties in the Alabama State Senate.
