Promoted "Common Sense" Government

s Florida's growth exploded in the 1970s and 1980s, so too did its government. Over time agencies had been expanded, rules added, and whole new departmental missions had evolved. The result was a complex, confusing state government that too few citizens could navigate.

Upon taking office, Chiles/MacKay worked with citizen groups to examine state agencies with conflicting and duplicative missions to determine how to better serve Floridians. As a result, in 1993 the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Regulation were merged into the Department of Environmental Protection. Regulations were streamlined and environmental permitting was expedited to help people work with state government to protect the environment.

When Chiles/MacKay found that the departments of General Services and Administration were duplicating efforts, they merged the two to create the Department of Management Services. They also looked at delivering services to respond to specific local community needs.

Early in their administration, Chiles/MacKay examined streamlining and decentralizing the monolithic Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. After discovering major glitches with the massive FLORIDA computer system for social services, Governor Chiles called on Lt. Governor MacKay. MacKay took over as acting Secretary in 1993 and restored order to the agency and empowered local communities through citizen-led Health and Human Services Boards. By July, the bureaucracy had been trimmed, two office buildings had been closed, services had been transferred to local districts throughout the state, and the stage was set for other improvements.

The streamlining that began in 1992 with the creation of the Agency for Health Care Administration continued with the creation of the Department of Juvenile Justice in 1994, the Department of Children and Families in 1996, and the Department of Health in 1997.

The administration also set out to reduce agency rules and regulations by at least 50 percent within the first two years of taking office. Each agency scrutinized its rules and determined which ones were outdated, duplications of current law or other rules, or overly wasteful. The administration worked to obtain updated, flexible regulations that achieved the public good as intended by the Legislature, while reducing the red tape. By January 1997, state agencies repealed nearly 58 percent of their rules.