By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – From consolidating the 107 School Administrative Units to sunsetting the Pease Development Authority and embracing artificial intelligence to “compliment not replace” state workers, a 77-page report on improving state efficiency has been issued.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte said the final report from the Commission on Government Efficiency co-chairs former Governor Craig Benson and Andy Crews “shows that when we focus on making operations better, we can deliver more value for taxpayers and build a more modern, efficient, and responsive government for all of New Hampshire.”
The report reflects almost a year of work talking with state department heads and reviewing state operations, and gathering public input by the volunteer commission.
Ayotte said it identifies opportunities to modernize government, strengthen New Hampshire’s long-term competitiveness, and ensure taxpayers receive maximum return on their investment.
Some may require a legislative fix while others can be handled administratively. Much of it calls for state departments to work collaboratively to improve buying power, share workers and look at underutilized buildings and properties to help deal with the state’s affordable housing crisis.
“COGE dug into the day-to-day realities of how the government works, and their recommendations reflect that,” she said. “These are practical improvements that will help us better serve Granite Staters,” said Ayotte, who thanked the two and other volunteers who produced the recommendations.
Ayotte said she will work closely with the Legislature, Commissioners, and stakeholders to determine which recommendations should advance.
In a statement, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said, “From the very beginning, COGE was nothing but a pathetic attempt by Kelly Ayotte to earn Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s stamp of approval, all while giving her donors a cushy resume boost in the process.
“If Ayotte wants to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars, she should start by scrapping her bloated, inefficient private school voucher scheme, which is already over $12 million in the red and operating without any form of oversight. Her hand-picked commissioners, including failed one-term governor Craig Benson, ignored that inconvenient truth throughout their report,” Buckley said.
State Senate Minority Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, said:
“I came to Concord to lower housing prices. Granite Staters want more everyday, economic freedom – they are stuck. Governor Ayotte is doing nothing to address lowering costs and is instead busy parroting corporate and D.C talking points in an effort to emulate Elon Musk’s failed endeavor. The report has no concrete ideas to lower costs,” Perkins Kwoka said.
She continued, “I was hard pressed to find any actual material, figures, or data of any kind. This is 77 pages of vaguely stated aspirations with little substance. There are some things like improved externship programs, energy efficiency in buildings, and digitization which are agreeable. But talk of ‘reevaluating’ department structures, elimination of legal counsel roles, elimination of the Pease Development Authority, limitation of GLP-1s, and consolidating departments and schools presents significant concerns. I’d be interested to learn more about how long it took, and how expensive it was to produce such a lengthy, fairly unsubstantiated wish-list of a former one-term governor.”
While many proposals offer meaningful opportunities to strengthen State operations, Ayotte highlighted three recommendations she believes have especially strong potential to modernize government, enhance New Hampshire’s long-term competitiveness, and maximize taxpayer value:
– Building a Sustainable Framework for AI Innovation in New Hampshire
– Modernizing Constituent and Case Management through Statewide CRM (customer) Systems
– Cutting Red Tape Across State Government.
Former Gov. Benson said, “Our work has reinforced something we heard in every corner of state government: New Hampshire succeeds when it adapts, collaborates, and reinvests in itself…The recommendations in this report are practical steps that modernize how we operate, strengthen future competitiveness, and ensure taxpayers get the best possible return on every dollar. This is an opportunity to build on what works, fix what doesn’t, and position New Hampshire for long-term success.”
Crews said, “We approached this work with a simple mission: government should be effective, efficient, and accountable to the people it serves…The ideas in this report reflect months of conversations with employees, stakeholders, and members of the public who care deeply about New Hampshire’s future. These recommendations move us toward a more modern government, a stronger competitive footing, and smarter investment of taxpayer resources. We are grateful to Governor Ayotte for asking us to take on this effort and for her commitment to responsible, forward-looking leadership.”
After she was sworn in as governor, Ayotte announced that she would seek ideas for more government efficiency.
The full report is here:
https://www.governor.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt971/files/inline-documents/coge-chairmens-report.pdf
It broke down the report into five categories: workforce efficiency, fiscal and asset management, Health and Human Services reforms, education and local governance and technological modernization.
Some highlighted recommendations include:
– No more remote work for state workers and a return to in-person teams and work standards which were the case prior to COVID-19.
– More effort to recruit Department of Corrections workers and expand externship and employment opportunities for inmates.
– Reduce the number of in-house lawyers in various state departments and reduce redundancy in public information officer positions.
– Reduce administrative bureaucracy within the University System of NH to focus funds on direct student benefit.
– Relax education requirements for some jobs and include real-world experience.
– Overhaul the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification to make licensing more streamlined, quick and transparent.
– Look to increase the $10,000 threshold for contracts to be approved by the Executive Council because it takes so much state employee time to produce the contracts for the council to consider.
– Prioritize right-to-know requests for New Hampshire residents over out of state and data mining companies.
– Establish an independent authority to administer the NHSaves which is now administered by utilities.
– Break the Health and Human Services Department into smaller agencies and look to the Texas model for in-home care for elderly rather than nursing home care.
– Sunset the 35-year-old Pease Development Authority and give the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs the task of repurposing land under its control to uses including housing.
– Transition the Port of Portsmouth to the Department of Transportation.
– Identify and consolidate underused office space and improve energy efficiency that is cost-effective.
– Have departments share purchasing to improve economies of scale.
– Encourage municipalities to invest taxpayer funds to make interest.
– Establish a teacher bill of rights to outline expectations for effective classroom instruction.
– Create an independent audit committee for school districts to report to the school board, not the superintendent to avoid financial crisis situations like that facing Claremont.
– Consolidate the 107 school districts which have doubled since the 1980s.
– Embrace artificial intelligence and create small pilot programs that can be evaluated.
– Use AI to enhance fraud, waste and abuse efforts.
– Use the state library and historic buildings for education retreats, consider sponsorship for park trails and buildings, and adjust beach sticker rates upwards for out-of-state users.
– Bill Medicaid for patient transportation to appointments.
The 77- page report concludes that “our work is rooted in a simple truth: efficiency is not austerity, it is accountability. It is the conviction that the government can always improve.”
“Ultimately, the goal is not simply to spend less but to work smarter, to deliver better results to taxpayers…” it reads.