Boards and commissions on the cutting room floor

Both the Governor and Legislature have been working to shrink the number of state boards and commissions. On Monday, Governor Gregoire signed Rep. John Driscoll's legislation to eliminate 46 additional state boards and commissions, bringing the total number of boards and commissions no longer on the books to about 130 , which the News Tribune reports will save an estimate $3.3 million over the next five years.

In addition, the Governor last week approved Rep. Kevin Van De Wege’s bill to reduce the number of state environmental and land use hearing boards from five to two. When combined with a Senate bill to further streamline the work of the (now-named) Environmental and Land Use Hearing Office, the Governor’s office says taxpayers will save about $250,000 per biennium. Her office has posted a handy before-and-after of how the smaller operation looks.