Making Government Work   Innovation in state government is not an oxymoron. The Productivity Investment Fund acts like an in-house venture capitalist to underwrite projects that spur superior efficiency and service.   Too often the news media and political commentators focus on what’s wrong with government. We like to aim the light of public attention on some scandal, screw-up or inefficiency that supports the belief that government waists our money.   But something new is happening in state government that hasn’t received public attention. A business-like effort is taking place where folks are being encouraged to improve the efficiency of state government.   Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra discussed this effort at the annual “Innovations in Government Conference” co-sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.   Chopra was a successful technology executive prior to joining the Kaine administration. He brings to his job the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector: a desire to try new ideas combined with the businessman’s continued effort to reduce costs and cut unnecessary paperwork.   Former Gov. George Allen started the process of looking at state government to find efficiencies through his “Blue Ribbon Strike Force,” and those efforts continued under Governors Gilmore, Warner and now Kaine. Business leaders, legislators and non-profit organizations were brought into this effort through such groups as the Commission on Virginia’s Future, the Cost Cutting Caucus and the Thomas Jefferson Institute. Now this work is beginning to have a real impact. The work that Bill Leighty, former chief of staff under Warner and Kaine, has begun to take real form. By the time the next two-year budget is crafted, state government should be more efficient and more transparent.   An example of the more business-like effort within state government is the Productivity Investment Fund. Headed by several key government leaders, with outside support from academic and private-sector leaders, this group looks for cost savings and government efficiencies that can be designed and implemented.   Last January, the state set aside $3 million in this Productivity Investment Fund to provide money to agencies pursuing ideas to make government less expensive and more efficient. This seed money is to be used to cut operating costs, minimize paperwork and improve transaction times for services that government provides its citizens.   Savings are repaid to the “efficiency fund” so that more money can be reinvested in reducing the cost and lethargy of state government.   Sure, more can be done and more will hopefully be done. But let’s admit that this Productivity Investment Fund makes good sense and that it encourages innovation in the way state government functions.   The initiative has already yielded three important results. There used to be 445 specific data points in many different government forms for a new company to fill out in order to register in Virginia – and 324 of these were redundant! A new “One Stop” process is being developed so that all necessary forms will be filled out with the recurring information without having to provide that information numerous times.  The time it takes to process a multi-year mining permit has been reduced from 90 days to 14 days.  The time it takes to process a Medicaid enrollment form for the aged, blind and disabled soon will be cut in half.                More can be done. For instance, individual cash rewards for money-saving ideas should be a large part of this process. But let’s applaud what is being done and let’s thank those in state government, like Aneesh Chopra, who have been working out of the limelight to make state government more effective, efficient and transparent. -- December 27, 2007