Summary of Texas Performance Review Recommendations

Previous Texas Performance Review reports contain many proposals to improve the performance and accountability of Texas state government. Below are selected proposals from each report, which specifically address performance budgeting, performance measurement, eliminating duplication, and customer service issues.

Challenging the Status Quo (1999)

• ED12--Make Remedial Education Funding Performance-Based. This proposal included recommendations to allocate all general revenue appropriations for remedial education to institutions of higher education using a performance-based funding approach. Each institution would receive a base amount for each student remediated and a bonus payment for each student who successfully completes remedial education.

• RR1--Create a Bill of Rights for Business. This proposal recommended the Governor create a Bill of Rights for Businesses to outline the behavior that should be expected from state agencies as they enforce state laws. Businesses would have the right to expect prompt, accurate responses to requests, easily accessible information, and a commitment from agencies to streamline regulations and regulatory processes.

• CG2--Set Customer Service Standards for Texas State Government. This proposal recommended agencies create an inventory of external customers for each of their budget strategies and appoint a customer relations representative. The Legislative Budget Board would need to create a series of performance measures for customer service and to help create an award system for exemplary agencies to be known as the "Texas Star Award."

• CG3--Improve Access to Government Through a Single State Information Number. This proposal recommended the Legislature create the AccessTexas Information Center to provide assistance to citizens searching for state information and services. The center would feature a toll-free number and transfer callers to state agencies, answer frequently asked questions and send out basic information seven days a week, 24 hours a day. AccessTexas would be operated under a contract with an outside contractor.

• GG1--Streamline the Tax Reporting and Auditing Process for Texas Businesses. This proposal included a package of recommendations, including allowing businesses to audit their own records under the Comptroller's supervision, allowing percentage-based reporting, and continuing the development of the Advanced Database System technology and software.

• SE1--Manage Growth in State Government Expenditures. This proposal recommended curbing the growing cost of government by reducing agency general revenue appropriations by 1.25 percent for agencies with more than 100 full time equivalent employees (FTEs) and by.75 percent for agencies with fewer than 100 FTEs. Agencies would be given increased authority to transfer money between years of a biennium and between budget strategies during the same fiscal year. In addition, agencies would be given targets to increase the competitive bidding of their services.

• SE2--Link Employee Pay to Performance. This proposal recommended the Legislature limit the use of merit pay increases to cases in which the agency can show that an employee has met objective and measurable performance standards that help the agency reach its goals and objectives.

• PSC5--Evaluate State-Funded Drug Prevention Programs. This proposal recommended all state agencies that provide grant funding to drug prevention programs develop uniform criteria for program evaluation. Using consistent measurement criteria would allow the state to more effectively evaluate the success of its spending on drug prevention programs.

Disturbing the Peace (1997)

• HHS5--Improve Consumer Information on Child Care Centers. This proposal included a package of recommendations to improve consumer information on child care centers. The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS) would be made the lead agency for all child care center inspections and would create a Child Care Rating System based on the results of all inspections for each child care center. Inspection activities would be streamlined, and the information would be shared with centers on the day of the inspection.

• HHS18--Pay Rehabilitation Service Vendors Based on Performance. This proposal recommended the Texas Rehabilitation Commission convert its fee-for-service contracts for vocational services to performance-based contracts.

• PSC5--Eliminate Dual Supervision of Offenders. This proposal recommended eliminating the requirement that persons report to both a parole officer and a probation officer.

• GG17--Offer Extended Driver's Licenses. This proposal recommended the Department of Public Safety (DPS) offer an extended driver's license and revise the fee structure accordingly. Licenses would be valid until age 60, at which time persons would need to obtain four-year licenses. DPS also would need to convert to an on-site license issuance process.

• EI1--Eliminate Vacant State Positions. This proposal recommended the Legislature adjust targeted full-time equivalent (FTE) levels and reduce appropriations for vacant positions at state agencies and higher education institutions. The Legislature would eliminate funding for all vacant, budgeted positions in excess of 2.5 percent of each agency's total FTEs.

• EI2--Streamline State Agencies. This proposal recommended the Legislature require state agencies and institutions of higher education to achieve average management-to-staff ratios of one to 11. Agencies also would be required to report their number of managers, supervisors and staff.

• CG15--Improve Access to Public Information. This proposal recommended the state's Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council (RMICC) develop a statewide subject-matter index for organizing state information. The subject matter index would be used to reorganize Blue Pages government listings in telephone books and in state phone directories.

• CG16--Electronic Mail Addresses for All State Agencies. This proposal recommended each state agency establish and maintain an Internet e-mail address to provide citizens convenient access to state government.

Gaining Ground (1995)

• HHS2--Establish a Health Care Information Office. This proposal recommended that the Legislature create a Health Care Information Office to provide data on the cost and outcome of patient hospital treatments. Health care payers, consumers, and providers would be provided data on usage, costs, and results of patient treatments to create a more efficient and effective health care system.

• EI1--Reduce State Government Employment and Curb Future Growth. This proposal recommended the Legislature cap employment in state agencies and institutions of higher education at average fiscal 1994 levels for the 1996-1997 biennium. Once the employment cap had been reached, agency employment would be allowed to grow no more than the rate of the agency's client population.

• PSC7--Improve Evaluation of Juvenile Justice Programs. This proposal recommended that the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC) use the same program evaluation criteria, based upon improvements in juveniles' competency rather than on the number of programs completed.

• GG3--Abolish the Office of State Treasurer. This proposal recommended eliminating the Office of State Treasurer and merging its the functions with the Comptroller of Public Accounts or competitively bid some functions. The related functions could be delivered more efficiently through a single agency.

Against the Grain (1993)

• ED13--Increase the Accountability of Institutions of Higher Education. This proposal recommended the Legislative Budget Board examine the finances of institutions of higher education every biennium. Each institution's revenue sources and expenditure patterns would be examined, including administrative costs and estimates of local education and general income. In addition, this proposal recommended the State Auditor audit faculty workload measures at higher education institutions.

• GG4--Re-engineer Business Permitting in Texas. This proposal recommended re-engineering the business permitting process to move toward creating a one-stop permitting process. The Department of Commerce would identify duplication, shorten cycle times, reduce paper flow, and improve customer service by streamlining the permit application process.

• CG1--Initiate Process Reviews in State Agencies. This proposal recommended state agencies develop a formal program to review their essential business processes. The Comptroller's Renaissance Project was proposed as a model for agencies to use front-line employees to look at agency work processes with an eye to reducing process cycle times, improving service quality and focusing resources on the most important agency responsibilities.

• CG4--Establish a Single Identification Number for Entities Doing Business with the State. This proposal recommended all state agencies identify individuals, businesses, and organizations by a single entity number. This would improve the accessibility and comparability of databases maintained by different state agencies.

Breaking the Mold (1991)

• ED31--Develop Performance Measures to Evaluate the State's Higher Education System. This proposal recommended developing performance measures to better assess the state's higher education system. A statewide database would be developed to assess the outcome measures of the higher education system. The Legislature could use the measures as an aid in determining formula funding levels.

• GG21--Increase Control of the Use and Cost of State Legal Services. This proposal recommended the Attorney General review state agencies' use of in-house legal counsel. The review should prescribe a plan and time frame for phasing out the use of outside counsel when appropriate.

• CG3--Performance Measurement Should Be Improved to Ensure Better Outcome Measurement and Cost Accounting. This proposal recommended that a new system of performance measurement be developed creating incentives for the development and use of effective outcome measures. Outcome measures would be defined to be used in making appropriations decisions.