Legislature passes bill to study government reform

On this day in 1931, the Forty-second Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution No. 58, establishing a joint committee of five members authorized to investigate all state departments, institutions, and the judiciary in an effort to reform the administrative machinery and to reduce the high cost of state government. Chaired by Rep. Harry N. Graves of Georgetown, the committee employed the consulting firm Griffenhagen and Associates to make a comprehensive survey of state government administration. The subsequent report, sometimes referred to as the Griffenhagen Report, ran to more than 2,000 pages and covered fiscal and administrative agencies, highways, law enforcement, the judiciary, welfare programs, prisons, health, and education. In 1933, the joint committee submitted its findings to the Forty-third Legislature along with a letter of transmittal suggesting reforms that might save the state government more than $6 million a year without impairing needed services. Despite the voluminous documentation, neither the Forty-third Legislature nor subsequent ones took effective action on the recommendations.