Handel: We need massive state government layoffs

Update: State Rep. Austin Scott, who is also running for governor, has responded to this proposal with some ideas of his own.
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Well Karen Handel just walked onto press row here at the Capitol with a bit of a bombshell: She wants to cut 10 percent of the state's work force, excluding teachers and law enforcement. She said that would be about 7,800 employees.

"Government is not a jobs program. ..." she said. "We hold the line on not increasing taxes."

Pressed for specific cuts she would propose, former Secretary of State Handel said she doesn't have all that worked out yet. But she did ask: "Do we need an H.R. department in every single state agency? No." And she said some state programs would probably be deleted.

Bullet points from the press release her campaign staff distributed:

* Permanent elimination of 10% of state government positions for FY2011 budget year – excluding teachers and public safety officers (State Patrol, GBI, etc.). This would save approximately $404 million and reduce the workforce by approximately 7,800 employees.

* Keep permanent the Governor's budget savings to date achieved through attrition, resignations, and retirements. According to the State Personnel Administration, this represents nearly 5% of the workforce and equals an additional $190 million in savings.

* Require zero-based-budgeting across state agencies. Legislation will not be required in a Handel administration.

* Reorganize agencies to reduce management layers and achieve supervisor/ employee ratio of 8 or 9 employees to 1 supervisor. Too often employees are promoted to supervisor or manager positions because of length of service rather than a reflection of management responsibilities.

* Launch an intensive effort to identify and eliminate non-essential services and programs, maximize outsourcing opportunities, move to shared-services approach for administrative services such human resources, review and eliminate non-essential boards and commissions, and identify opportunities to consolidate agencies.

* Reform state salary and benefits by moving state employees to "paid time off" (or PTO) and limited leave carry-over rather than the current accrual system, which allows employees to "bank" significant amounts of sick, compensatory, and vacation time that is then used to "bridge" to retirement or is cashed-in upon departure/retirement.

* Vigorously utilize the line item veto to keep spending in check during the recovery and eliminate unneeded government programs