Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski took another step this week in his plan to restructure state government.  The Governor appointed a seven-member Reset Cabinet to review core government functions. 

Earlier this summer, Kulongoski kicked off the restructing effort by releasing a list of dozens of state boards and commissions that he wants to cut or consolidate.  As Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman reports, the proposals so far won't save the state much money.

In a typical year at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, interpreters translate conversations between doctors and patients into more than 60 languages. 

Here, interpreter Jaime Placeres translates as Doctor Erin Madriago tells a young Spanish-speaking mother that her baby's heart defect has healed.

Erin Madriago:  'So, I don't have a sound anymore.  So the hole's closed.'

Jaime Placeres:  translating into Spanish

The translating service is required by federal law.  But a state council on health care interpreters in Oregon is targeted for elimination by Governor Ted Kulongoski. 

The panel hasn't met in more than a year. But Samia Saad, who oversees the interpreting program at OHSU, says the council's mission is to certify medical interpreters, and she says that effort is just on hold.

Samia Saad:  "They have not decided on what kind of testing they want to do for the interpreters.  And there was a lot of stuff that should go in place and it hasn't happened.  So they have stopped meeting, and I'm just waiting for them to actually say, okay, we're resuming."

Department of Human Services spokeswoman Jodi Sherwood says future decisions about certification policies will simply be made by DHS staff.  She says the agency supports closing down a panel that's basically dormant.

Torpedoing the Health Care Interpreters Council might not generate much opposition.  But it also won't generate much savings, either.  The Council's budget is just $25,000 a year.  To put that in perspective, the entire DHS budget this year is more than $7 billion. 

Of course, the interpreters council is just one of 18 panels and commissions that Governor Kulongoski proposes to eliminate.  He wants to consolidate or suspend more than three dozen others. 

The potential savings?  Around $20 million over a two year budget cycle. 

Rem Nivens:  "Although it's not potentially a great general fund impact, there is savings that could be explored there."

That's Rem Nivens, a spokesman for Governor Kulongoski. He says the list of boards and commissions is a starting point for a larger discussion.

Rem Nivens:  "It's really about what do we want to do in government, and how do we want to streamline what we provide, knowing that yeah, there's a lot of people that care about these issues"

Nivens says over the coming year the governor will shift his focus to big ticket items such as human services, education and public safety. 

That's where the money is, according to Neal Johnson with Government Reform Project of the Pew Center on the States.  He says to really save money lawmakers will have to dig deep into the nuts and bolts of everything from purchasing to awarding state contracts.

Neal Johnson: "Boards and commissions, that level of kind of cleaning out the dead weeds, it's a good step to take but it's not going to gain you huge savings."

Then again, one person's dead weed is another person's beautiful flower. 

Some commissions are defending their existence.  The 8-year-old Fire Service Policy Council is reviewing possible changes to procedures for responding to hazardous materials on fire. 

The nine member panel is made up of volunteers.  So State Fire Marshall Randy Simpson says there'd be no point in getting rid of the group.

Randy Simpson:  "There'd be no fiscal impact on the general fund whatsoever.  So to close this, there wouldn't be any need to."

Simpson says he'll make that case to lawmakers if the proposal gets that far.  But the Legislature has shown they aren't afraid to do away with relatively obscure state panels. 

One example:  For 20 years, the Oregon Progress Board's mission was to evaluate the state's success or failure in achieving certain performance goals.  Lawmakers cut all funding to the Progress Board earlier this year.