Florida House Launches New Committee on Government Reorganization

With Gov. Rick Scott looking to reorganize the state government, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, announced on Thursday that he was creating a new House committee to tackle the issue.

Cannon sent out a memo to all members of the House on Thursday announcing the formation of the Select Committee on Government Reorganization.

The 2011 legislative session is an opportunity for transformational change, insisted Cannon. We should thoughtfully and systematically pursue true reform and avoid the temptation to make changes simply for the sake of change.

Privatization, performance standards, running government like a business, and information technology are appealing ideas but not panaceas, continued Cannon.Reform cannot consist of simply combining, recombining, dividing or redividing government agencies.Our goal instead is to engage in the work of identifying the specific and necessary work of government in order to eliminate the extraneous tasks that have been added over the years.Florida government should be focused on core goals and structured to achieve those goals.

Cannon is turning to two key members of his leadership team to head up the new committee. He named Speaker Pro Tem John Legg, R-Port Richey, to chair the committee with Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, who already heads up the Rules and Calendar Committee, as vice chairman.

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