Latest news with #COGE
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why Kansas Reflector filed a complaint about stonewalling by the Senate efficiency panel
Sen. Renee Erickson listens at a hearing on March 31, 2025, at the Kansas Statehouse. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) The Kansas Open Records Act makes clear demands of state and local government. This vital law requires timely release of public records within three business days of receiving a request. If officials can't fulfill that timeline, they're required to explain why, in detail. The Kansas Senate Committee on Government Efficiency claims to be working for the good of all by ferreting out waste and bloat in state government. Perhaps it should start with itself, or at least with chairwoman Renee Erickson, R-Wichita. She led the effort to stonewall news media requests for public recommendations submitted to COGE through its online portal. Kansas Reflector requested the records from her on Feb. 25. They weren't released until April 9 — more than six weeks later. By that time, our reporter Anna Kaminski had already examined a leaked copy of public feedback. That batch of public comments suggested why Erickson pushed the public release until after the legislative session ended. Kansans blasted the committee with messages calling for Medicaid expansion, legalized cannabis and tolerance for LGBTQ+ youths. They show, in short, how anti-government narratives miss the mark in Kansas, where right-wing ideologues have poisoned the well of state government for years. On Wednesday, Kansas Reflector editor in chief Sherman Smith submitted a complaint to the state Attorney General's Office about this delay. Erickson's committee did not respond to our request in a timely manner, and the broader public suffered because crucial information was hidden from them. COGE members could access the messages in mid-March, but their constituents could not. We believe that government officials should be held responsible for delay and obfuscation. We heard attempts to justify the delays at a COGE meeting May 13. There were just so many messages. We had to screen them all. We didn't delete anything. Gordon Self, a legislative staff member, opined: 'Once the KORA requests were received and a response was made, there was a review of the records, all 2,000, to determine if any of the records did contain information. After a thorough review, there were some identified that did have some sensitive information in them.' Erickson harumphed: 'At the end of the day, there are none that have been deleted, there are none that are not available for review. But as was said, we wanted to make sure that we were not including information that was not appropriate for such a situation.' Forgive me for rolling my eyes. These self-satisfied excuses don't add up. None of the messages reviewed by Kansas Reflector staff appear to include sensitive information that the government had to shield from prying eyes. As noted earlier, a tranche of unredacted submissions was leaked to us in late March. We have compared the two versions. There's no there there. In one message, for instance, Statehouse staff omitted a profane phrase. That didn't protect anyone's personal or private information. In another case, the same suggestion was apparently submitted in two categories. The messages mention Senate President Ty Masterson's lucrative side hustle at Wichita Stare University, where he earns more than $150,000 a year as 'director of GoCreate, a Koch Collaborative.' In one of them, Masterson's name has been redacted, along with that of the author. In the other, neither Masterson nor the author has been redacted. Only a few dozen of the thousand-plus messages saw any redactions at all. Perhaps Statehouse staff don't have the slightest idea what they're doing. Perhaps they made a few random edits to the messages to justify the month-plus delay. Neither option should fill Kansans with confidence in their legislators or the work of COGE. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he COGE web portal includes the warning that 'Portal submissions are public records that are subject to the Kansas Open Records Act.' Those sending in feedback have to check a box next to that warning. Why even bother to do that if you're going to screen the material afterward? Like other public records conflicts, this runs the risk of sounding petty. So what, I can hear some readers ask. You got the information anyway. Why fuss? My answer remains the same as when I wrote about Emporia Stare University's unconscionable response in turning over information to Kansas Reflector. This information belongs to everyone. Lawmakers don't get to pass a law and then arbitrarily decide whether to follow it. If they expect town and county governments to follow KORA, if they expect other state agencies to follow KORA, they can damn well follow it themselves. That's what justice and fair play demands. That's what their fellow Kansans deserve. And it's what we're going to do, no matter Erickson's sanctimonious claptrap. COGE kora complaint Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas Senate efficiency committee justifies slow response to open records request
Gordon Self, a legislative staff member working with the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency, explained how the Kansas Open Records Act process works. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate Committee on Government Efficiency spent the first minutes of its Tuesday meeting explaining why it delayed release of messages to news organizations, defying Kansas Open Records Act requirements. Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican and chairwoman of COGE, said news articles had been written about the subject, and she felt it was important for the committee to hear what occurred. Max Kautsch, a First Amendment rights and open government attorney, said COGE failed to meet requirements laid out in the law, specifically that records should be made available as soon as possible. Kansas Reflector made an open records request to access submissions to the COGE portal and email address. The records were not released for more than two months after the request, although Sen. Patrick Schmidt made a KORA request for those records and received them well before that. KORA requires records be made available within three business days or as soon as possible. The two-month timeline could have met KORA requirements if, as the law requires, there had been a 'detailed explanation of the cause for further delay,' Kautsch said. Gordon Self, a legislative staff member who specializes in statutes, said the portal where people could submit suggestions for COGE indicated those 'may be' public records. When KORA requests were received, there were concerns the submissions might contain protected or confidential information, such as Social Security numbers or personal health information, he said. To complete a submission on the COGE portal, a checkbox requires that the individual acknowledge the records are public records and subject to the law. 'Once the KORA requests were received and a response was made, there was a review of the records, all 2,000, to determine if any of the records did contain information,' Self said. 'After a thorough review, there were some identified that did have some sensitive information in them.' That information was redacted, he said. Kansas Reflector received a copy of the emails from an unnamed source before the KORA request was fulfilled. The official copy received later showed few redactions and most appeared to be names, addresses and phone numbers. The Reflector's request yielded disclosures of more than 1,600 submissions that Kansans had made to the portal, Kautsch said. The names and contact information for just 55 submitters were redacted, while the names and contact information for 1,500-plus Kansans were disclosed. 'I thought it was important because there's been a lot of articles and things out on social media – I thought it was important that this committee hear the process, the rationale for the process,' Erickson said after Self's presentation. 'At the end of the day, there are none that have been deleted, there are none that are not available for review. But as was said, we wanted to make sure that we were not including information that was not appropriate for such a situation.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas efficiency panel wades through public input, creates plan to tackle transparency, access
Sen. Cindy Holscher, left, and Sen. Doug Shane considered submissions from the public as part of Tuesday's Senate Committee on Government Efficiency meeting. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate Committee on Government Efficiency dug through hundreds of online submissions Tuesday and set an agenda for the coming months tackling issues from transparency to auditing. The meeting agenda, released Monday, said committee members would discuss suggestions received through the COGE portal, where Kansans were encouraged to share ideas to make the government more efficient. Erickson said 3,254 submissions were made to date, with topics ranging from specific ideas about government efficiency to people who were venting frustrations. There also were a few recipes, she said. She has read all the submissions and with the help of committee staff had winnowed the number for consideration to 349 'COGE-like submissions,' Erickson said. The committee agreed that submissions that might not fit the COGE mission could be passed along to state agencies or others who could address the issues. 'How are we going to carve this bird today? That's the $64,000 question. There are submissions that deal with local and federal,' Erickson said. 'Our focus is not to deal with those one-offs that I would call more constituent services, someone who has a specific issue. But are there patterns?' Setting aside those that didn't fall into the COGE focus left the committee with 349 submissions to consider. Erickson stressed that all committee members have access to the 3,000-plus submissions received and could add topics at any time. 'Identify tangible ideas,' she said. 'We want to look for things that are possibilities to take up during our next legislative session. You can start to see some themes, some natural groupings.' To get an idea of the time involved and how to best work through the emails, the committee took about 30 minutes to look through 40 pages of submissions and then began discussions of what issues might be appropriate for COGE to consider. Eventually, they considered all 349 submissions. The result? The committee will discuss the following broad topics in order of importance: Transparency and ease of access Agency workflow and interagency cooperation Impact of third-party vendors, professional organizations and other non-government entities Auditing process/auditing environment State budgeting and expenditure practices Cost and access of medical care Procurement As the committee reached agreement on overall categories to explore, members also looked at what would put teeth into what they're doing. 'We've got to identify it, and we've got to rectify it,' Erickson said. She also said she'd like to consider how to incentivize state agencies to become more efficient. Sen. Larry Alley, R-Winfield, said the committee needs to consider how to enforce its work. 'If we don't put some type of penalty in there — and usually the agencies or the other groups don't respond unless It's taking care of their money — if you penalize them in some way for not doing their job, then they will correct it,' he said. 'But if you don't, they're not going to correct need some teeth, and that teeth usually goes with what we only have up here and that's the only thing we have, is a budget process of money.' Erickson agreed that accountability will be a factor in the committee's work. 'What would that look like as we identify efficiencies or waste? What was the term someone used, identify and rectify? I like that,' she said. 'What does that rectify part look like to me? That's the accountability, the teeth that we're talking about.' Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said accountability could look like training. 'We tie in whatever the legislative expectations are, as far as monitoring for waste and bloat or what have you, and come up with some very clear legislative guidelines, statutory guidelines that if they aren't followed, that maybe the quote, unquote punishment is we're going to be trained on efficient and ethical spending of taxpayer funds,' he said. The committee agreed it would start in June by digging into the top two priorities with three agencies: the Kansas Department for Children and Families; the Kansas judicial branch, including include local sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies; and the Kansas Department of Labor. Sen. Mike Thompson, a Johnson County Republican, said he wants the agencies to bring ideas on creating efficiencies. 'I don't want the agency to come and tell us why they can't do something,' he said. 'I want them to come with ideas, and I think that needs to be our big focus.'
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Newton County-based lawmaker chairs Missouri's Committee on Government Efficiency
MISSOURI (KSNF/KODE) — Government efficiency has been making headlines since Inauguration Day, when President Trump established 'DOGE' by executive order to modernize federal technology and software. A Newton County-based lawmaker is at the head of similar efforts in Missouri. Representative Ben Baker announced his appointment to chair the Committee on Government Efficiency on January 23. COGE has a number of bills on its slate, concerning how SNAP recipients can spend their benefits, unemployment compensation, pay for teachers and school administrators, vehicle inspection and registration, building permits, and funding for the departments of conservation and transportation. The 20-member committee's primary job is to look for ways to reduce state spending and red tape. 'Even a state like ours that has a balanced budget amendment, we can't spend more money than we take in, but there's a lot of waste in places where if we had better processes I think it would make for more efficient government, which translates to less money, and regulation, and time for our citizens,' said Rep. Ben Baker, (R-MO) District 160 / Government Efficiency Committee Chair. The Missouri State Senate has its own government efficiency committee. It launched a 'Government Efficiency Portal' in February, where the public is encouraged to report duplication, waste, and inefficiency for the committee to review. As for COGE, the committee's next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at noon. You can visit the livestream here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ayotte's COGE holds first meeting: What to know about the DOGE copy in New Hampshire
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte's newly created, DOGE-like Commission of Government Efficiency (COGE) was set to hold their first meeting on Wednesday. The commission's aim is to ensure the state government runs 'as efficiently and effectively as possible,' according to Ayotte. It mirrors the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was set up by executive order in President Donald Trump's first day back in office to find ways to cut spending and regulations in the federal government. It has since slashed federal programs like USAID and laid off federal employees across the government. While Elon Musk was first named as the head of the department, it was revealed Tuesday that former US Digital Service official Amy Gleason is the acting DOGE administrator. Here's what to know about New Hampshire's version of DOGE. Ayotte created COGE in her first executive order as Governor on Jan. 9. It is an advisory committee led by former Gov. Craig Benson and Bedford business Andy Crews as co-chairs. 'COGE will put proposals on my desk to streamline government, cut spending, and ensure we're doing everything we can to create value for taxpayers,' Ayotte said. The commission has 15 members total, with 13 picked by the governor, one state representative picked by the House speaker, and one state senator picked by the Senate president. The members include NH House Speaker Rep. Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry and Sen. Mark McConkey, R-Freedom, as well as several people involved in the private sector. According to Ayotte's executive order, COGE members will serve a term of two years with the option of additional terms. Ayotte said that COGE will find programs to reduce or eliminate to deal with a revenue shortfall in the state. 'We need to make sure that government is operating more like the lean process in manufacturing, where waste is eliminated at each stage in the process, to produce better results,' she said in her first speech as governor. On Jan. 24, Ayotte launched a portal where New Hampshire citizens could submit proposals or ideas for COGE. 'Our team is seeking feedback from Granite Staters on how we can make our government more efficient and effective for all of New Hampshire,' she said on X. This too is like DOGE, which set up an email hotline for people to submit ideas. The New Hampshire Democratic Party called COGE a 'desperate attempt' to 'draw the attention and praise' of Trump and Musk in a press release. NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley said that the committee, which includes many people who donated to Ayotte's gubernatorial campaign, is 'rife with conflicts of interest.' New Hampshire isn't the only state to set up its own version of DOGE. On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the creation of a Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) task force. In early February, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt created DOGE-OK and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds made the Iowa DOGE task force through executive orders. Other states, too, are making efforts to add some form of DOGE to their state government, including Georgia, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH COGE: What to know about the DOGE copy in New Hampshire
