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Consumer protection’s forced marriages: A sensible idea?
February 2nd, 2009, 3:00 am · 11 Comments · posted by BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento Correspondent
Imagine if the governor proposed saving money by consolidating the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. You’d think he’s crazy, right?
Well, critics argue that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing something like that with his plan to consolidate several boards, commissions and bureaus as part of the fix to the state’s $42 billion deficit.
Among his proposals are plans to consolidate the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau with the Board of Accountancy, and to merge the Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau with the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board.
These boards and bureaus, like all the boards, bureaus and commissions in California, exist to regulate a 
specific niche of society. Consumer protection is their game.
But the governor’s plan calls for consolidating organizations that appear to have little or nothing to do with each other.
The Professional Fiduciaries Bureau regulates conservators and trustees. The Board of Accountancy regulates accountants. Other than both dealing with money, the areas are completely unrelated. What would make an expert on accountants the right person to regulate a trustee?
Likewise, the Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau regulates hearing aid retailers. Why should that function be consolidated under the board that licenses speech pathologists?
As Julianne D’Angelo Fellmeth, an expert on state regulatory agencies, told the San Francisco Chronicle recently, administration officials “haven’t made the case yet” that these consolidations make sense, which could be dangerous when you’re talking about consumer protection.
And that’s just a sampling of what the governor has in mind. In all, he’s proposed consolidating a dozen boards and bureaus into six and eliminating four others. (Organizations on the chopping block include such obscure entities as the Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee, which oversees the state’s Smog Check Program, and the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine.)
The moves won’t affect the budget deficit - boards are funded through special funds, not the floundering General Fund - but the proposals are part of the governor’s overall effort to increase government efficiency during these tough times.
The proposals also represent a return to an idea the governor promulgated when he was first elected to office. During the 2003 Recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger spoke of “blowing up the boxes” and streamlining the bewildering system of boards and commissions in California.
Even consumer protection advocates admit the board and commission system is unwieldy and outdated. (Have you heard of these boards? Do you have any idea who serves on them or how they got there? Didn’t think so.) But advocates say it doesn’t makes sense to consolidate unrelated functions.
Then again, it depends on your definition of “unrelated.”
“We disagree with your underlying assumptions that the boards that we are trying to consolidate don’t have related - if if not overlapping - functions,” the governor’s press secretary, Aaron McLear, said in an e-mail when I asked him about the consolidation proposals.
“In the case of the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau, there are only 261 conservators or guardians licensed in the state. Conservators or guardians have identical functions to that of a personal accountant in that fiduciaries oversee financial matters of people not related to them. It would seem this makes sense to merge, especially considering the fiduciaries bureau has limited resources and it’s long-term viability is questionable. The Board of Accountancy is much more robust and has a well established licensing program with 76,000 licensees and an active and trained enforcement staff.
“As for the hearing aid dispenser, 50 percent of the licensees of the Hearing Aid Dispensing Bureau and the Speech-Language Pathology Audiology Bureau are licensed with BOTH boards. The Hearing Aid Dispensary Bureau has investigated ONE case since 2006.”
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Why not save even more money and eliminate some of these boards. We don’t need all these boards watching over every little thing in society.
He should not only get rid of the 4 boards, but get rid of ALL of them. These Board members are working 1-2 days a month and getting paid over $100K each! And everybody’s is looking at Wall Street instead of the crooks that lead our state!!
Arnold is trying to save face for something he promised (LIED) to do back in 2003.
He hasn’t done a single thing to help California. He’s a fiscal Moron, a Socialist with an (R) in front of his name, and thinks the public is as dumb as the audiences that watch his movies!
It’s time to stop paying for the illegal alliens in this state, (there’s $12 Billion of the yearly budget solved) Obsolve the Teachers Union, (pay good teachers MORE and get rid of all the BS admin positions that over lap, cause red tape, and allow that Union to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying for MORE TAX PAYERS MONEY!!).
Folks, California is OUT OF CONTROLL! And guess what, the US Gov’t is going to look like California in the next 4 years. We’re already on track!!
DO SOMETHING! Write your congressmen, state reps, local gov’t and tell them WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!!
Hello OC Register,
Please give us a list of all the Boards and Commissions, their function, staff numbers, budget and the pay scale for the top guy/gal.
Makes perfect sense!
California obviously spends way too much. California regulates way too much. Lawmakers keep making new laws to justify themselves and inject control into tiny segments of society. Enough! Although elimination of excess bureaucracy would be preferable, consolidation is a superb idea!
how about forced tubes-tying procedures for people who shouldn’t be having kids like that nutjob in Bellflower? at the very least, forced adoption for all their excessive kids.
there’s nothing wrong with merging these four into two. makes total, perfect, logical sense. fiscally and otherwise.
Sounds logical to me.
I also think we can save some money, by making the board members do all the janitorial and gardening work as well.
As of the school board members… I suggest we rent out all the school board buildings, and force them into portable trailers, like many of our schoolchildren.
Eliminate all these wasteful boards, commissions, and bureaus. Most of us never heard of these entities, or even care about their functions.
The Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee, which oversees the state’s Smog Check Program should be handled by the DMV.
This merger makes sense–the Hearing Aid Dispensing Bureau and the Speech-Language Pathology Audiology Bureau are licensed with BOTH boards.
In the case of the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau, there are only 261 conservators or guardians licensed in the state. Conservators or guardians have identical functions to that of a personal accountant in that fiduciaries oversee financial matters of people not related to them. —another make sense merger…
Something needs to get done and done very soon. Lets cut the spending and get CA growing again.
So the Governor is proposing something new, the only thing that can save this state, or the country for that matter, would be for the entire bunch to leave. The whole story is like the way they operate, a joke. The story starts out saying the governor’s proposals are to help fix the budget deficit, then they say the moves won’t affect the budget deficit. These boards are something else, they say there set up to help the people, right, it costs anywhere from $1000 to $4000 for a hearing aid, a small digital type, if that’s helping then forget it. Arizona car registration compared to California is amazing, when I see these government people l feel sick, anybody that would go along with them is crazy.
As usual, the the Register leads with the views of pro-government services and calls her an “expert.” Just who is Julianne D’Angelo Fellmeth and how can I get you to name me as an expert on state regulatory agencies? Have you ever dealt with one as a small business person and tracked the actual dollar cost to do business in CA? CARB is the most useless agency in the state and there are many opportunities to find graft by skilled reporters.
Let’s start with saving tax dollars by eliminating the advertising spent on TV, radio, newspapers, and Angels games by Flex Your Power.org and the anti-smoking agency. These are tax dollars regardless of whether they are “sin taxes” or “fees” charged your local gas station.