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Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, Gov. Rick Perry Praised as "Innovators in Action"

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

(September 25, 2008) - The Reason Foundation is heralding U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as "Innovators in Action" for their work in developing fresh solutions to cope with our growing infrastructure and traffic problems.

In Innovators in Action 2008, Ms. Peters and Gov. Perry author columns explaining their visions and policy prescriptions for the future of transportation funding and construction.

Secretary Peters writes:

If we get the policy right when the new bill is written, it has the potential to be as far-reaching and visionary as the legislation President Eisenhower signed in 1956 giving birth to a national Interstate Highway system, which ultimately revolutionized the American economy and way of life.

Modern technology and new approaches to financing make it possible to empower consumers-through the mechanism of the market-to set transportation priorities, instead of government planners and regulators.

...The first step is to refocus our surface transportation program on a clearly defined federal role. When the government tries to be all things to all people, it fails to be coherent and risks being nothing to anyone. The program Eisenhower created 50 years ago was well-defined and well-suited to its time. The goal was clear: build the Interstates and connect the country-and we did.

Since that mission was accomplished more than a quarter of a century ago, our federal surface transportation program has lost its sense of direction. It has become a breeding ground for earmarks and burdened by a proliferation of special-interest programs, goals and requirements."

In his Innovators in Action piece, Gov. Perry writes:

"A decade ago, if I said there was a way to pay for all the roads Texas needed, if I had talked about a group of people who are eager to compete for the chance to spend their money to build our roads, many probably would have thought I'd lost my mind.

But the fact of the matter is, many financial institutions are willing to pay for the roads we need but can't afford, in exchange for the opportunity to recover their investment and make a profit over time. In fact, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters recently estimated that roughly $400 billion in private money is available worldwide for public infrastructure projects. It would be foolish for Texas to ignore such an opportunity.

I am convinced that private dollars, administered through private-public partnerships, are a part of the answer to our transportation infrastructure challenge. Such innovation can sometimes frighten those accustomed to the old way of doing things, those comfortable with the status quo. But the simple truth is: when it comes to roads, Texas needs more of them. And we need them now. We need leaders willing to think outside the box, to be innovative in their solutions, to take a chance."

"From crumbling roads to collapsing bridges to gridlocked roads, our nation's infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and expansion," said Leonard Gilroy, editor of Innovators in Action and director of government reform at Reason Foundation. "Governor Perry and Secretary Peters have led us down a new path, a path that shows there are better and more sustainable ways to fund, build and operate infrastructure. Their leadership offers hope that after years of falling behind, we can build a 21st century transportation system that protects our mobility and spurs the economy."

Other public officials featured in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2008 include:

Former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker;
Utah State Senator Howard Stephenson and State Representative Craig Frank;
New Jersey State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak;
the late Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson;
King County, Washington Executive Ron Sims;
Denver Regional Transportation District CEO Cal Marsella; and
Olga V. Block, CEO and Executive Director of BASIS Schools.

"At every level of government there are officials of all political stripes who are implementing programs that give taxpayers more bang for their buck and improve accountability," Gilroy said. "Now we need these types of innovators to become the norm, rather than the exception."

Full Report Online

Innovators in Action 2008 is online at http://www.reason.org/innovators2008/.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were featured in Innovators in Action 2007, which is available online at http://www.reason.org/innovators2007/.

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Innovators in Action 2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Foundation is heralding U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as "Innovators in Action" for their work in developing fresh solutions to cope with our growing infrastructure and traffic problems. In Innovators in Action 2008, Ms. Peters and Gov. Perry author columns explaining their visions and policy prescriptions for the future of transportation funding and construction.

"From crumbling roads to collapsing bridges to gridlocked roads, our nation's infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and expansion," said Leonard Gilroy, editor of Innovators in Action and director of government reform at Reason Foundation. "Governor Perry and Secretary Peters have led us down a new path, a path that shows there are better and more sustainable ways to fund, build and operate infrastructure. Their leadership offers hope that after years of falling behind, we can build a 21st century transportation system that protects our mobility and spurs the economy."

In addition to Peters and Perry, the Reason Foundation publication features essays by and interviews with U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, Utah Senator Howard Stephenson and Representative Craig Frank, New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak, the late Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson, Denver Regional Transportation District CEO Cal Marsella, King County (WA) Executive Ron Sims, and BASIS Charter Schools co-founder Olga Block.

In their own words, this bipartisan group of leaders reveal how they are reducing government spending and reforming bureaucracy; how they are collaborating with the private sector to build new infrastructure and deliver cost-savings and better services to taxpayers; how they are advancing market-based transportation solutions to reduce congestion and improve mobility; how they reforming public education delivery and advancing school choice; and how they are reforming urban public transit operations.

Innovators in Government Offer Cutting-Edge Models for Reform

leonard.gilroy@reason.org (Leonard Gilroy) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Innovation is all too rare in government. On one hand, policymakers and bureaucrats have a vast array of sound policy ideas at their disposal. But many of these ideas never see the light of day due to institutional inertia or political considerations. At the same time, government officials often take policy actions without a clear sense of purpose (i.e., what are we aiming to solve?) or realistic expectations of outcomes and unintended consequences. In a time of a record-setting federal deficit, tightening state and local budgets, over $1 trillion in unfunded infrastructure needs, looming fiscal disasters in public pension and entitlement programs, rising congestion in our transportation systems and poor educational performance, we need innovators in government now more than ever.

Reason Foundation's new publication, Innovators in Action 2008, showcases a set of innovative policymakers and practitioners who have successfully bridged the gap between ideas and action. In their own words, they describe the whats, whys and hows of their innovations in such areas ranging from transportation finance, state fiscal reform, school choice, federal management, and urban mobility.

Several lessons emerge from these essays and interviews:

Competition, markets and private sector solutions work. From King County, Washington Executive Ron Sims's embrace of variable rate tolling for traffic congestion reduction, to the architects of the newly revamped Utah Privatization Policy Board that will regularly review state agencies for privatization opportunities, to New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak's urban school scholarships proposal to offer low-income children an alternative to underperforming schools, these innovators have demonstrated that public-private partnerships and market-oriented policy change are proven policy management tools that deliver good results.
Challenge the status quo. Government-as-usual will not deliver the solutions our nation, states and cities need to compete in the 21st century's global economy. These innovators understand that tinkering around the edges is not enough; we need to be willing to dramatically overhaul existing systems and think outside the box. For example, rising traffic congestion and government's inability to deliver enough transportation capacity to meet surging demand prompted U.S Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Executive Sims to literally advance a transformation of transportation policy at the federal, state and local levels, respectively.
Goals matter. Public service delivery suffers when agencies and officials operate without clear goals, an unfortunate tendency in many institutional structures. In any type of reform effort, it's critical to identify the desired change upfront and then craft clear goals and strategies to achieve it. When Gov. Perry and the late Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson began the process of revolutionizing the state's transportation system, they began by clearly identifying short-, mid- and long-range goals and then developed a suite of policy tools to achieve these very specific goals.
Aim high. Difficult challenges require bold solutions. When starting the first BASIS charter school in Tucson a decade ago, founders Olga and Michael Block set out to create one of the best schools in the country and developed an innovative model for doing so. By May 2008, Newsweek ranked BASIS Tucson the #1 public high school in the nation. Similarly Utah State Senator Howard Stephenson and State Representative Craig Frank set out with the goal of "right-sizing" government, leading them to develop a set of new policies to streamline state government and mandate regular reviews of state and local government services and activities to ensure agencies aren't unfairly competing with private sector businesses.
Performance is key. Measuring progress toward achieving goals is impossible without outcome assessment, or as Denver Regional Transportation District CEO Cal Marsella puts it in his interview, "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Using outcome-based performance assessment to drive his award-winning internal agency reforms, former Comptroller General David Walker took the U.S Government Accountability Office from an "at risk" agency to one that is currently viewed as one of most effective agencies in the federal government. Similarly, Secretary Peters has worked toward a transformation of the federal transportation program in which funding is allocated not on the basis of political desires, but a set of objective performance standards.
Reform isn't partisan. The innovators featured in this report represent a broad range of points along the political spectrum and their political diversity demonstrates that privatization and market-based reform are not partisan issues. Rather, these policy tools are embraced by Democrats and Republicans alike to drive internal change and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery.

Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs said, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." Not content to merely follow in the footsteps of those before them, each of these innovators offers an example of bold leadership, a willingness to embrace change and results-oriented action. And each of these innovators has been a change agent with a direct role in improving the delivery of public services.

The reformers featured in Reason's Innovators in Action 2008 are not interested in working within the constraints of what is, but instead are focused on the possibilities they can create by breaking from the confines of the status quo and turning toward new policy tools and paradigms. Hopefully, the examples and experiences offered by these innovators will inspire and guide reform-minded officials at all levels of government.

Privatization Watch: Innovators in Action

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST

Articles include:
1. Improvement Requires Willingness to Change (by Gov. Jeb Bush),
2. Addressing Public Challenges with Private Partners (by Gov. Bill Owens),
3. Running Government More Like a Business (by Virginia Del. Chris Saxman), and
4. Reflections of a Texas Transportation Trailblazer.

Other articles include: City of Charlotte's Privatization and Competition Advisory Committee; Managed Competition in San Diego; Privatization Briefs; and Who, What, Where.

Innovators in Action 2007

info@reason.org (Geoffrey Segal) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:57:00 EST

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and several other local and state officials demonstrate how governments can tackle bureaucracy, streamline operations and become more accountable to taxpayers in a new Reason Foundation publication, Innovators in Action.

"Ask taxpayers and they'll tell you they pay too much in taxes and government wastes way too much money. Business as usual won't cut it anymore," said Geoffrey Segal, director of government reform at Reason Foundation and editor of Innovators in Action. "Change is never easy, but government agencies at every level can learn valuable lessons from these trailblazers who have shown there is a better, more effective and efficient way."

In addition to Giuliani, Bush and Owens, the Reason Foundation publication features essays by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Virginia Delegate Chris Saxman, Hamilton County (OH) Commissioner R. Patrick DeWine, Secretary of Indiana Family and Social Services Administration E. Mitchell Robb, Jr., the City of Charlotte's Business Process Improvement Manager David Elmore, and Reason Foundation's Robert Poole and Lisa Snell.

In their own words, these leaders reveal how they are reducing government spending; how they are collaborating with the private sector to deliver cost-savings and better services to taxpayers; how they are using public-private partnerships to build roads their governments couldn't afford on their own; how they are working with high-tech firms to improve technology and increase Internet usage; and how they reforming Medicaid, health and social services.

Rightsizing Government

info@reason.org (William D. Eggers) — Fri, 01 Jan 1993 00:00:00 EST

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

State and local governments now face a series of unprecedented challenges: budget deficits, bloated workforces, decaying infrastructure, shrinking tax bases, citizen opposition to new taxes, and taxpayer-imposed tax and spending limitations.

A new breed of public-sector managers, inspired by the successful streamlining of American business are trying to meet these challenges — not by increasing taxes or government spending — but by fundamentally transforming government through a process called rightsizing.

Rightsizing means establishing clear priorities and asking questions that successful companies regularly ask, such as: If we were not doing this already, would we start? Is this activity central to our mission? If we were to design this organization from scratch, given what we now know about modern technology, what would it look like?

A roadmap to rightsizing government would include these six key strategies:

Competition. "Opening up city hall to the competitive process must be the fundamental aspect of change," says Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. Since taking office in January 1992, Goldsmith has shifted over 50 government services into the marketplace by making city departments compete with private firms to deliver public services. Savings: $28 million annually.

Activity-Based-Costing (ABC). Few governments know how much it costs to deliver most public services. Without such data, it is impossible to know if city costs are competitive with those in the marketplace or how scarce tax dollars could be best allocated to serve citizens.

By attaching explicit costs to individual activities, and measuring the costs versus the efficiency and effectiveness of service outputs, ABC systems can provide an important tool for controlling costs and increasing productivity in the public sector. ABC brings to light costs which previously were hidden allowing managers to determine where they need to get costs down. ABC systems also lead to more accurate cost comparisons between in-house and contracted services when governments bid out services.

Entrepreneurial, Performance-Based Budgeting. Government typically rewards managers for poor performance: if crime goes up, police departments receive more money; if student test scores go down, the schools are given more cash. Poor outcomes lead to more inputs, rather than an improved process.

number of political leaders are changing these perverse incentives by overhauling the annual budget process. Milwaukee's new budget is "performance-based": success is measured according to outcomes, not inputs. Managers submit five strategic objectives and are held accountable for achieving these outcomes. Rather than measuring the number of road crew workers, for example, the Road Maintenance Department is judged according to the smoothness of the streets.

For performance budgeting to work, mayors and governors must hold the line on spending by freezing or capping budget allocations to each department. Capping spending growth helps create a culture where managers see their purpose as maximizing their accomplishments with available resources rather than trying to grow their budgets.

Focusing on Core Businesses. Across the country, governments operate all kinds of enterprises and programs far removed from the central missions of government. Does the city of Dallas really need its own classical radio station? Should New York City be operating off-track betting parlors? In order to provide high quality basic public services, governments should concentrate on doing fewer things better.

Some noncore services—such as zoos, museums, fairs, remote parks, and some recreational programs—can be turned over to nonprofit organizations. Other city assets—such as airports, water systems, utilities and parking garages—can be sold to the highest bidder. All over the world, such enterprises are being privatized, allowing governments to turn physical capital into financial capital.

Reengineering. In the private sector, companies are saving millions of dollars and increasing productivity by radically rethinking and redesigning work processes. This practice, called reengineering, helped Union Carbide cut $400 million out of its fixed costs in just three years.

If pursued aggressively, reengineering could lead to dramatic productivity gains in the public sector. For example, installing document-imaging technology—whether in the courthouse, police station or welfare office—can eliminate the need to store millions of paper files. Dallas expects to realize significant space savings and handle court document requests with 10 fewer employees a year through document imaging. Yearly savings: $250,000.

Reorganizing Work Structures. Government's organizational structures, management systems, and job classifications also need to be reinvented. Rightsizing governments are tearing down rigid hierarchies and replacing them with flatter, leaner, and more flexible structures. They are organizing employees into self-managing work teams focused on their customers rather, and empowering them to make many decisions independently of department directors.

These rightsizing strategies and others are being employed by America's leading public-sector innovators to fundamentally transform government. They represent the cutting edge of government innovation, and hopefully, the future of state and local government.