- Columnist Bill Crawford says the history of significant government reorganization in Mississippi consists mostly of failures.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wants his Senate to develop a plan to reorganize state government.
Hosemann and Sen. Chris Johnson, chair of the Senate Government Structures Committee, set that as a “top priority during next year’s session,” reported the Clarion-Ledger last week. This followed a presentation to Johnson’s committee by former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson who successfully reorganized government in Arkansas.
Good luck. The history of significant government reorganization in Mississippi consists mostly of failures.
As I write in my book A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives, “In 1932 the Institute for Government Research of the Brookings Institution studied Mississippi government. Its Report on a Survey of the Organization and Administration of State and County Government in Mississippi recommended a maximum of 12 agencies. A study by Highsaw and Mullican, The Growth of State Administration in Mississippi, suggested 17 agencies in 1950. A group of CEOs, said 32 agencies in 1971. These thoughtful recommendations got nowhere with the Mississippi Legislature which wielded the power over agency creation and dissolution. In 1817 the state started with eight administrative agencies, by 1932 there were 80 and by 1950 just over 100, and in 2023 over 140.”
“We in Mississippi have over 200 boards and commissions,” Hosemann told the Clarion-Ledger. “We’re laying the predicate here for a really strong look at Mississippi government. We want to have a very efficient government.”
In 1975, Republican gubernatorial candidate Gil Carmichael made “efficient and effective” government via reorganization a cornerstone of his campaign. Gil believed it would take a constitutional convention to get anything done.
Gov. Kirk Fordice tried to get the legislature to streamline government during his two terms to little avail.
As I mentioned in a recent column, Gov. Haley Barbour in 2009 put forth 18 proposals to rightsize government. The legislature thwarted those proposals too.
That is not to say that no government reorganization has occurred. It has, but those changes have been minor in scope compared to the proposals of Carmichael, Fordice, and Barbour, as well as several governors who preceded them.
The exciting element in Hosemann’s effort is that the legislature may be bringing major proposals forward, not the governor.
Interestingly, Fordice and Barbour sought to save money through reorganization, Hosemann said his intent is otherwise.
“We probably will save money,” he told the Clarion-Ledger, “but the most important thing is to be effective and be available to people we work for.”
Of course, a study committee is one thing, legislative action with governor approval quite another.
“Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind” – Philippians 2:2.
Bill Crawford
