JACKSON - Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell say savings and efficiency can be realized under the governor's proposal to strip most state employees of civil service protection.
Epps and Spell appeared at a news conference Thursday with Gov. Haley Barbour, who again stressed the importance of giving agency heads more flexibility to reorganize their staffs.
Spell said when he took over the Agriculture Department in 1996, the agency had gone through two-thirds of its budget midway through the fiscal year. He said he asked lawmakers to take the agency from the oversight of the state Personnel Board so he could reorganize.
Spell said he was granted permission to "take a bloated agency, streamline it and make it more efficient." He said it was done through cross training, job reductions and eliminating agency red tape.
"There are 33 percent fewer working than when I came into office," Spell said. "If we still had the same number of personnel as in 1996, it would be costing the state an extra $4 million."
The Senate has passed a bill that would remove most state agencies from the oversight of the Personnel Board, saying it will save $100 million. The measure is tied to Medicaid funding. The House has balked at the proposal.
"The abolishment of civil service protection is a very dangerous thing in the times that we are in right now," said Rep. Tyrone Ellis, D-Starkville. "The greatest fear is discrimination if that takes place."
Epps said since the 2004 Legislature removed civil service protection from some of his agency's employees, the Department of Corrections has saved 5 percent of its budget for salaries.
Epps said a state law that gives all agencies the ability to reorganize through the Personnel Board is flawed.
Epps said under the Reduction In Force program, agency leaders have to terminate employees based on seniority.
He said if an ineffective employee has more seniority than another worker who is efficient, the most recent hire must be fired.
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