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| Date: | February 13, 2012 | | Contact Name: | Susan Closmore | | Contact Phone: | 651-296-5712 | | Contact Email: | susan.closmore@senate.mn | | For Immediate Release | |
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| Senate Announces Formation of New Reform & Redesign Subcommittee |
St. Paul- Senate State Government Innovations and Veterans Committee Chair Mike Parry (R-Waseca) announced recently the formation of a new subcommittee, the Reform and Redesign subcommittee. The subcommittee’s mission is to pursue an efficient, effective, citizen-centric government. Senator Parry selected Senator Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge) to serve as Chair and Senator Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake) to serve as Vice Chair. The subcommittee is comprised of seven members of the Majority and five members of the Minority.
“I appreciate the willingness of these Senators to serve on the subcommittee and to help us in our efforts to review existing policies and enable legislation in support of making government operations continually efficient and effective to serve the citizen of Minnesota in a digital age,” said State Government Innovations and Veterans Chair Parry.
Reform and Redesign is one of the first of its kind in the nation. It will facilitate sharing of innovative ideas and reforms across committee areas.
“I am honored to be asked by Chairman Parry to serve as Chair of this subcommittee. Our subcommittee will look across all aspects of government and see how we can make it more efficient. We do not want government to just be smaller, we want government to be better. We can do that by taking progress made in one agency and applying it to another,” said Reform and Redesign subcommittee Chair Nienow. “We have tremendous opportunities and challenges ahead of us. However, these are issues we need to address now to ensure Minnesota government is sustainable and effective for years to come.”
The Subcommittee met Friday for the first time and heard from Carolyn Parnell, the CIO of Minnesota’s Office of Enterprise Technology.
“Changing demographics and our legacy system makes it necessary for us to take an in-depth approach to transforming government. I’m thrilled to join Chairman Nienow and fellow committee members as we build on last year’s success. We made progress in 2011 when we consolidated OET – we’ll be using that as a case study and launching point as we move forward in our quest for 21st century solutions,” said Reform and Redesign Vice Chair Benson.
“Last session, we passed groundbreaking legislation. Taking all IT departments and putting them in one department. This opens the door for a statewide shared-services approach. This committee can facilitate this transformative process,” said Senator Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) who is serving on the Reform and Redesign subcommittee.
