±A./\J&'\S*J Xfa.Vi . - ws£- ey^.x- vjjh^/ 3" t The Commonwealth of Massachusetts EXECUTE DEPARTMENT g^ f OflCUMBK .lirffitii'lllllli STATE HOUSE • BOSTON 02133 /OVU»L|LX| lrn/TM|lrti|tkv« IIM llll II 120bb Dn2-n7n0 3-37T6A4U iR (617)727-3600 JAN 23 1996 WILLIAM WELD F. GOVERNOR j -weisrfy of Massachusetts ARGEO PAUL CELLUCCI LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR Depository Copy EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL: 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 1, 1995 WELD, CELLUCCI ANNOUNCE DOWNSIZING PLAN Recommend $500 Million Income Tax Cut $100 million registry fee relief Governor William Weld and Lt Governor Paul Cellucci today . announced a sweeping proposal for a smaller, more efficient and less costly state government and a reduction in the state income tax from 5.95 percent to 5.45 percent, saving taxpayers half-a- billion dollars. The downsizing plan includes the elimination of five cabinet: secretariats, 76 state agencies and 263 boards and commissions. The plan also calls for the sunsetting of all state regulations and the privatization of functions performed by several government authorities, including the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority iMBTA) The plan would also make owning and operating a car in Massachusetts less costly and free of unnecessary bureaucratic hassles. The proposal would eliminate the requirement to renew driver's licenses every five years and car registrations every more " Page 2 two years, abolish the flawed annual vehicle safety inspections and make biannual the auto emissions test. For new cars, the auto emissions test would be required only after the third year of ownership. The Registry of Motor Vehicles measures would save Massachusetts drivers $100 million and eliminate an estimated 2.5 million registry transactions a year. Weld, who announced the downsizing plan at the Old State House, said: "The average citizen in this state is still working until May 8th every year just to pay for all the government in his life. We haven't given the people of Massachusetts nearly the relief they deserve. "Over the last few months, we asked citizens and state employees all across the Commonwealth: 'What should state government do?' The answers we heard were simple: It should ensure public safety; help those who can't help themselves; educate our citizens; and care for the assets all of us hold in common. By focusing on these core missions and considering nothing else sacred we were able to achieve dramatic savings for the taxpayers . "I've talked to people from Quincy to North Adams to New Bedford about their ideas for changing state government," said Cellucci. "The concerns heard most frequently were that I governmer.: regulates :oo much and taxes are too high. This downsizir.g plan addresses both." Cellucci held a dozen meetings with citizens around une state to solicit ideas for downsizing - more - Page 3 state government. Ideas were also solicited through a 1-800 number, an E-Mail address and from state employees through a survey. "We were able to cut two-thirds-of -a-billion dollars by ignoring the entrenched interests and simply asking, 'What do the people of Massachusetts need?'" said Cellucci. Under the plan, the Executive Offices of Labor, Consumer Affairs, Economic Affairs, Education, and Communities and Development would be abolished. Retained would be: Elder Affairs; Public Property, replacing the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction; Family Services, replacing the Executive Office of Health and Human Services; Administration and Finance; Environmental Affairs; and Public Safety. Additional highlights of the administration's downsizing recommendations include: Education Overview; The Weld-Cellucci Administration, with the Legislature, took the first steps to radically reform the state's K-12 and higher education systems by enacting the 1993 Education Reform Act and consolidating previously separate state universities into a unified university system. Now it is time to take the next critical steps. The administration proposal represents the long overdue integration of K-12 and higher education systems as well as the state's job training programs. -more- ; ; Page 4 Education, Cont'd The administration also believes that parents should be empowered to send their children to an institution of _their choice. No student should be locked into a failed school and denied the basic skills needed to earn a living, and through a new school voucher program, no student will be. Moreover, public colleges and universities should receive state dollars contingent on improved quality and the attainment of defined standards. Education proposals include: • Eliminate the Executive Office of Education; • Consolidate the Board of Education, the MassJobs Council and the Higher Education Coordinating Council into a newly created Board of Education and Training; • Eliminate the Department of Education; • Institute a voucher program for K-12 public and private schools • Block grant small education grant programs to free communities from state micromanagement • Convert higher education subsidies to outcome-based aid; • Expand Charter Schools. "We need to turn our public schools' failure into success in this way: First, by making those schools part of an integrated lifelong learning system that includes higher education and job training; Second, by giving each child a voucher that parents can deliver to the school of their choice," Weld said. more - ;; Page 5 Family Services Overview: Today, state government's health and human service programs cost more than $7 billion, employ over 26,000 and serve some 800,000 clients. That represents nearly half the state budget, a third of all state employees and 13 percent of the Massachusetts population. There are more state Health and Human Services regional and area offices than there are McDonald's franchises in Massachusetts. This sprawling bureaucracy was not designed, it just happened. The downsizing proposal rebuilds the state's human services delivery system by consolidating the myriad uncoordinated services into four critical responsibilities: protecting children; helping those with disabilities become more self-sufficient; providing transitional assistance to the truly needy; and promoting public health. Human Services proposals include: • Create the Executive Office of Family Services, replacing the Executive Office of Health and Human Services; • Replace 14 human services agencies and six boards, commissions and councils scattered throughout state government with four coherent departments -- Children's Services, Rehabilitative Services, Transitional Services and Public Health Services • Offer Family Services' clients a single access point to services • Increase reliance on private providers; • Crea:e incentives for state public health institutions to develop and offer low-cost and needed services; • Institute means-testing, based on ability to pay, for family services. - more -