ENROLLED
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Regular Session, 2011
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 50
BY REPRESENTATIVE HARRISON
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To direct the secretaries of the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of
Children and Family Services to study the consolidation of the two departments into
one department and to present a report on the findings and conclusions of such study
to the legislature.
WHEREAS, Louisiana is facing a budget crisis requiring the offset of a projected
$1.6 billion revenue shortfall, and the legislature is currently in the process of carrying out
the difficult task of determining those agencies and programs that must withstand severe
funding cuts, while considering proposals for major changes in the way certain state
functions are administered in order to achieve savings; and
WHEREAS, the governor has called for funding cuts and recommended privatizing
certain state functions, while seeking ways to maintain key services and continue economic
development efforts, all of which requires very close scrutiny of all state government
operations with an eye toward economy and efficiency; and
WHEREAS, economy and efficiency in state government is one of the main
objectives of the Executive Reorganization Act, enacted in response to a mandate of the
Louisiana Constitution of 1974, which provides that its purpose is in part "to create a
structure for the executive branch of state government which is responsive to the needs of
the people of this state and which is sufficiently flexible to meet changing human and natural
conditions; to promote economy and efficiency in the operation and management of state
government, and to strengthen the executive capacity for effective, efficient, and economic
administration at all levels...and to eliminate to the fullest practicable extent duplication of
effort within the executive branch of state government in order to use wisely the funds of the ENROLLEDHCR NO. 50
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state and more conveniently to meet the needs of the citizens of Louisiana which are
supported by revenues derived from the people and from the natural resources belonging to
them"; and
WHEREAS, government reorganization for the purpose of further consolidation of
government functions and elimination of duplication clearly constitutes one of the most
obvious, and potentially one of the most effective, ways to support the ongoing work of the
legislature and the governor in response to the current budget dilemma, and the Constitution
of Louisiana grants the legislature responsibility for reallocation of offices, agencies, and
other instrumentalities of the executive branch of state government and their functions,
powers, duties, and responsibilities within not more than twenty departments; and
WHEREAS, primary candidates for such reorganization are the Department of
Health and Hospitals and the Department of Children and Family Services, for these
departments, which administer the health and social services functions of state government,
are major bureaucratic structures that serve many of the same clients and have closely
related responsibilities and related eligibility and funding structures, and in fact the two
departments were at one time a single larger department that also included the state's
hospitals.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
authorize and request the secretaries of the Department of Health and Hospitals and the
Department of Children and Family Services jointly to study the consolidation of the two
departments into one department and to present a report on the findings and conclusions of
such study to the legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such plan shall have the purposes of promoting
economy and efficiency in the operation and management of the functions of the state
relative to health and social services, strengthening the executive capacity of the new
department for effective, efficient, and economic administration while also improving the
quality of the functions performed and the programs and services rendered by the new
department for the state's citizens, and eliminating to the fullest practicable extent
duplication of effort within health and social services functions of state government. ENROLLEDHCR NO. 50
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretaries shall conduct a comprehensive
study and examination of the organization and operations of the two departments and such
study shall include but not be limited to the merger of functions, abolition of agencies,
consolidation of offices, elimination of job positions, elimination of duplication of functions,
full implementation of an office of management and finance and consolidation of its
functions, and efficiency and economy in delivery of services.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such study shall include:
(1) A study of the organizational structures and the assignment of powers, duties,
functions, responsibilities, and programs of the two departments and a review of those areas
where there is an opportunity to achieve improved and efficient operation and management
of the state's health and social services programs and functions.
(2) A report of the findings of the secretaries' comprehensive study and examination
of the organization and operations of the two departments and any other explanatory material
the secretaries determine to be necessary to explain the study.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretaries shall complete such study and
submit it to the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president of the Senate, the
Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, the House Committee on House and
Governmental Affairs, the Senate Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs, the
Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, and the House Committee on Health and Welfare
not later than December 31, 2011, and that a copy thereof shall be submitted to the governor
and to the commissioner of administration.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget,
the House Committee on House and Governmental Affairs, the Senate Committee on Senate
and Governmental Affairs, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, and the House
Committee on Health and Welfare, individually or jointly, may conduct such hearings as
they deem appropriate to review the study and material submitted by the secretaries and that
the secretaries shall furnish the committees any information they may request concerning
reorganization of the departments and appear before any of the committees to provide such
information as any of the committees may request. ENROLLEDHCR NO. 50
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the Honorable Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana; Paul W. Rainwater, Commissioner
of Administration; Bruce D. Greenstein, Secretary of the Department of Health and
Hospitals; and Ruth Johnson, Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE