GOVERNOR'S INITIATIVE HIGHLIGHTS SAVINGS TO TAXPAYERS, EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS IN PUBLIC SERVICE

SPRINGFIELD-Governor George H. Ryan today released the state's new Governing for Change report that highlights agency efforts to improve government. "We know that government must improve and today, we have seen that it can improve," Ryan said. "These reforms, though small, must be accredited to the men and women who work in state government and have seen where the improvements are needed."

Rick Larison, Director of the Governor's Office of Statewide Performance Review, said the Governing for Change report has simple technical ideas initiated by agency employees who worked to reduce spending and improve constituent service. An example, the initiatives include a report from the Illinois Commerce Commission to decrease the time and cost of copying official documents, which led to a new agency policy.

In the past, Commission documents were filed with the Chief Clerk's Office. To receive copies, individuals had to check the Clerk's daily filing sheet, the docket sheet and other paper reports. Persons wanting a copy of filed material then had to pay 25 cents per page and wait for delivery. The agency reported to the Governor's office that as part of a pilot project, selected cases are posted to the ICC web site, thus easing access. "Due to the success of this pilot, the "e-Docket" system will be fully implemented during the first quarter of calendar 2000, and all dockets opened on or after January 1, 2000, will be posted on the Internet," Larison said.

Other departments that participated in the "good government" initiatives included:

• Capital Development Board -- the department's Contract Administration unit requires an original insurance certificate before awarding a contract. This requirement caused delays and frustrated firms that bid for contracts with the state. The contract could not be awarded to the apparent low bid contractor until an original insurance certificate was received by the agency. The processing time is reduced by 80 percent, from 5 working days to 1 day for trouble-free certificates and from 10 working days to an average of 2 days for those insurance certificates requiring modifications. The agency will now accept fax copies of the insurance certificates directly form the insurance company.
  
  
• Department of Employment Security --The department created an "on-line" form database to reduce cost and increase customer satisfaction. Approximately 130 forms have been moved to an on-line database. The anticipated results include reduced contractual service costs for pre-printed forms, reduced warehouse space, reduced local office storage space, reduce spoilage of forms caused by age, storage and transport, and reduced destruction of outdated forms.
  
  
• Department of Financial Institutions -- The department began using a human resource software called, PeopleTrak, which automates forms and data entry. All employee aluations are on diskette, eliminating data entry and reducing paper.
  
  
• Illinois State Police -- The department assisted the City of Harrisburg with obtaining an $80,000 Severe Weather Warning System that the city was unable to afford. The City of Harrisburg previously had no severe weather warning system. ISP has helped the 9,289 people in Harrisburg feel safer by also training storm spotters to detect warning signs of severe weather.
  
  
• Liquor Control Commission -- The Commission is required to conduct background investigations, but because the LEADS terminal was under-utilized, investigations were inefficiently performed. The Division Administrator received authorization to conduct background inquiries via the State Police's nine information resource centers throughout the state.

The performance review office works with each state agency to discern ways to streamline government, assist state agencies in focusing on their core functions and help measure success towards agency goals.