by the committee was prepared and enacted into law under the title "Civil Administrative Code." The primary object of the new code was to reorganize and consolidate the numerous state administrative offices, boards, and commissions into a limited number of state departments, as in the national government of the United States. Nine main departments were created as follows: 1. Finance. 2. Agriculture. 4. Mines and Minerals. 5. Public Works and Buildings. 6. Public Welfare. 7. Public Health. 8. Trade and Commerce. 9. Registration and Education. These departments absorbed the functions of forty executive offices and fifty boards and commissions, as well as of a large number of subordinate positions. Each department has at its head a director who is authorized to make rules and regulations for his department and to fix salaries and define the duties of his subordinates. Officials in charge of important bureaus and divisions, as well as some administrative and a few unpaid advisory boards, are provided for in the code. All of these officials are appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate. The consolidation does not affect the elective officers provided for in the constitution. While the principle that one man should have complete responsibility in the discharge of executive functions is recognized in the Administrative Code, it is also recognized that in the discharge of quasi-legislative or quasijudicial functions it is essential to have the judgment of a number of men. Consequently, provisions were made for several boards or commissions for the administration of such departments. Where questions of policy are to be determined in the administrative departments, arrange ments have also been made for the appointment of advisory boards. The principal results to be expected from this reorganization were pointed out in the report of the efficiency and economy committee. In the first place, there is more definite responsibility-likewise, increased efficiency resulting from the co-ordination and correlation of the numerous branches of state administration in the nine main departments and from the active supervision of the directors of these departments by the Governor. Of special importance are the consolidation of the state correctional institutions and that of the state normal schools, each organization being under a single authority. The new organization aids in securing more consistent and more effective legislation, and prevents the creation of additional and useless officials and boards. According to the judgment of Governor Lowden, the Civil Administrative Code ... has more than justified all expectations that were formed concerning it. The functions of the government are discharged at the Capitol. The Governor is in daily contact with his administration in all its activities. Unity and harmony of administration have been allowed, and vigor and energy of administration enhanced. Reorganization in Idaho.-The second state to provide for complete administrative consolidation was Idaho. By an act known as "The Administration Consolidation Act," which went into effect on March 31, 1919, all of the administrative agencies of the state except those created by the constitution were combined into new departments as follows: 1. Agriculture. 2. Commerce and Industry. 3. Finance. 4. Immigration, Labor, and Statistics. 5. Law Enforcement. 6. Public Investments. 7. Public Welfare. 8. Public Works. 9. Reclamation. In accordance with the Consolidation Act, the duties and salaries of subordinate officials are fixed by the head of the department concerned, with the approval of the Governor. Since the Consolidation Act changed merely the agencies through which administrative duties are to be carried on, without corresponding changes in state law, the responsibility was placed by the act upon the Governor to "devise a practical working basis for co-operation and coordination of work, eliminating duplication and overlapping of functions." By means of the Consolidation Act more than forty offices, boards, commissions, and other administrative agencies were abolished. Governor D. W. Davis of Idaho thus characterizes the change introduced by the act:1 This is the dawn of a new era in civil administration. As I have watched the workings of the new plan of the Cabinet form of centralized state government in Idaho, where fifty-one departments, boards, and bureaus have been put under nine heads, I am convinced of this. I have actually seen the enthusiasm, the exchange of ideas, the feeling of added responsibility, as I sat in the Cabinet meetings and have noted the difference between the old regime and the new, and I have come to believe the day past when the worn-out, creaking system of state government will do. That the red tape and costly duplication of the past is gone in Idaho is my firm belief. Reorganization in Nebraska.-Nebraska, like other states, had a decentralized administrative system. There were numerous administrative agencies, each created by statute as the occasion arose and independent of other agencies, with powers and duties specifically enumerated by statute. A committee of the Nebraska legislature recommended in 1914 that a survey be made of the administrative services of the state in order to bring about consolidation and reorganization. The legislative efforts toward reform were supplemented by the interest and support of the Governor, with the result that consolidation, in so far as 1 See "How Administrative Consolidation Is Working in Idaho," by D. W. Davis, National Municipal Review, vol. viii, p. 615. the constitution of the state permits, was accomplished in 1919 by the passage of the Civil Administrative Code.1 Under this Code, the following departments were created: 1. Finance. 2. Agriculture. 4. Trade and Commerce. 6. Public Works. Eight constitutional officers and four constitutional boards are retained, as are also the statutory boards of Equalization and Agriculture, each of which is made a part of the appropriate department. The object of the Code was to combine the statutory administrative agencies and to transfer their duties to one of the new departments. According to the language of the Code, the civil administration is vested in the Governor, who is aided in the administration of the laws by the heads of the six departments. The heads of the departments are appointed by the Governor, and appointments to subordinate positions are made by the Governor in consultation with the head of the department concerned. In some respects, the Nebraska plan does not involve so complete centralization as that provided for in the codes of Illinois and Idaho, but in Nebraska an effort was made to codify the administrative law of the state and thereby to eliminate duplications and overlapping functions. In all three of the states which have attempted consolidation, a revision of the constitution will be necessary to complete the process and to do away with anomalies which hamper effective administration. Reorganization in Massachusetts.-Massachusetts established a Commission on Economy and Efficiency in 1912, but little was accomplished in the direction of reorganization until a special committee of the legislature proposed, in 1917, a tentative plan of consolidation based on a study of the Illinois Code. This plan, which contemplated the re1 Session Laws, chap. cxc. tention of the elective constitutional officers, proposed to combine about two hundred independent agencies into eleven bureaus or departments. The constitutional convention which convened the next year failed to agree upon a consolidation plan, but submitted to the voters the proposition (which was carried) to the effect that, before January 1, 1921, the executive and administrative work of the commonwealth shall be organized into not more than twenty departments. In the legislative session of 1919, various plans for consolidation were considered, and these were finally combined into an Administrative Consolidation bill which has been enacted into law.1 In addition to the constitutional departments of Secretary of the Commonwealth, Treasurer and Receiver-General, Auditor and Attorney General, sixteen departments were created. Among the features of consolidation in Massachusetts are the concentration in the control of state purchases and the custody of state property, and the appointment of department chiefs and assistants by the Governor, usually with the consent of the council. Numerous other states have taken steps in the direction of consolidation of administrative functions. The experience of New York illustrates the general trend and gives a suggestive summary of the reorganization movement. Reorganization was begun in New York by the appointment of a committee of inquiry, which made a few recommendations that were enacted into law. This preliminary work led to a plan to secure a description of the government of the state and appraisal of its work by the New York Bureau of Municipal Research preparatory to the calling of a constitutional convention. The report of the bureau with its recommendations represents a thorough analysis of state administration, with suggestions for reorganization which may be briefly presented as illustrative of the trend toward reorganization of state government. Session Laws, 1919, chap. cccl. |