Several stories today report on executive orders Governor Daniels already has signed, or will sign today. The Evansville Courier&Press has a list today of the 13 Executive Orders that the new Governor signed yesterday:
Making good on campaign pledges, Gov. Mitch Daniels initiated new in-state purchasing and ethics policies Monday within hours of being sworn into office.The Governor is to take additional actions today (In fact, accorting to a story just posted in the Star, he has just "issued executive orders that invalidated existing labor contracts. Those contracts, ratified in executive orders signed by Kernan, ran through June 2007.")
Those were two of 13 executive orders he signed.
In others, he reorganized the state's economic development efforts, launched an inventory of state property and equipment that could be sold and ordered Internet posting of state contracts.
One of the most significant changes he made was to have leaders of the State Budget Agency, Department of Revenue, Office of Public Finance and Department of Local Government Finance report to Charles Schalliol, director of the newly formed Office of Management and Budget.
Schalliol's OMB also will oversee the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, the Teachers' Retirement Fund and the State Board of Accounts "to the fullest extent permitted by law."
Daniels said he will sign an executive order this week to create a free-standing human services agency to handle child protection and child support.
Other orders signed:
• Creating the OMB, the Office of Secretary of Commerce, the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Federal Grants and Procurement.
• Requiring the Department of Administration to recognize the Indiana Regional Minority Supplier Development Council's certification of minority-owned companies, making it easier for such companies to do business with the state.
• Establishing rules of ethical conduct for state workers.
• Requiring state contracts to be published on Indiana's Web site.
• Establishing a purchasing preference for Indiana-made goods and services.
• Requiring state officials to inventory property and equipment and divest of unused or underused assets.
Where are the new Executive Orders? None of these Executive Orders appear to be available online. Perhaps it is a one-time glitch, because of the change-over in administrations. As these documents have the effect of law, it is important that they they be just of accessible (and equally accessible) to all Hoosiers as the actions of the General Assembly and rules adopted by state agencies.
Where are the old Executive Orders? However, it appears also that Governor Kernan's executive orders are no longer available online. These executive orders, along with other important documents such as the veto messages of past governor Kernan and O'Bannon, are important recent history that should remain readily accessible, in my opinion. I know that during the last session, I referred to earlier veto messages of both prior governors often, and a number of times quoted from them in the ILB.
Advance notice of rules and orders. Yesterday the Indianapolis Star had an editorial titled "Keep government open, accountable." Some quotes:
IEDC's administrative rule-making process, in which it actually takes over the role that the General Assembly would otherwise play in approving economic development regulations, would be exempted from Indiana Code guidelines requiring public comment. The agency could essentially pass rules without any public input. Negotiations with businesses also would be kept quiet until the agency decided the deal was done; the public would have little say about tax abatements or land-use arrangements until late in the process.However, if I correctly understand the 2nd reading amendment approved yesterday, rules of the IEDC are to be considered "emergency rules" under the law, meaning that they go into operation at the time the agency directs, and may not appear in the Indiana Register until weeks thereafter.The IEDC isn't exactly an agency that should be less accountable to the public. After all, the vast array of roles IEDC is taking over from the Department of Commerce include the power to slash regulations, control such programs as the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and certify and fund powerful local redevelopment agencies. Oversight is especially important considering that the agency's board members likely will have little experience with the constraints that come with working in the public sector.
Yes, the state does need to speed up decision-making and cut out bureaucracy. And Daniels' legislative director, Jennifer Thuma, also is correct in noting that many of the state's quasi-governmental affiliates are exempted from rules concerning public comment. But that very lack of accountability is one reason why Indiana state government has been sharply criticized in recent years, including from Daniels himself.
The Star's concern is that there is no opportunity for public comment. An equal concern, in my opinion, is that there be opportunity for advance notice or warning that a rule of the IEDC (or an Executive Order of the Governor) is about to go into operation, and that there be an equal opportunity for notice of the existence and content of an impending change in "law" or procedures that may impact, for instance, your business or future dealings with the State, before it goes into operation, even if this means nothing more than that everyone is on equal footing in so far as knowledge of the law or the operation of state government is concerned
Posted by Marcia Oddi at January 11, 2005 10:24 AM