Governor Culver has signed a state government reorganization bill into law. It eliminates 14 different state boards and commissions and consolidates state computer systems.
It also seeks to reduce the number of “middle managers” in state government. Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, started working on the reorganization project last summer and she spoke shortly before the governor signed the bill into law.
“The bill is the largest reorganization effort in the history of the state,” Mascher said. Senator Staci Appel, a Democrat from Ackworth, worked alongside Mascher for the past eight months to craft the legislation. “Some of these decisions were simple solutions,” Appel said, “and others were difficult and tedious to sort out.”
Most Republicans in the legislature voted for the reform package and while a few dozen Democrats from the House and Senate stood behind Culver for today’s bill signing, only one Republican lawmaker attended the event. Top aides to Republican legislative leaders say there was no organized boycott by Republicans and Culver, a Democrat, praised Republicans for joining Democrats in passing the bill.
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Radio Iowa
O.Kay Henderson
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