| June 5, 1995 | |||
| The Honorable Pete Wilson Governor of California |
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| Honorable Bill Lockyer Senate Republican Leader and Members of the Senate |
The Honorable Kenneth L. Maddy Senate Minority Floor Leader |
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| Honorable Willie L. Brown Jr. Speaker of the Assembly and Members of the Assembly |
The Honorable James Brulte Assembly Minority Floor Leader |
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| Governor and Members of the Legislature: | ||||||||||
| The Little Hoover Commission supports Governor's Reorganization Plan #3 of 1995, which merges the office of the California State Fire Marshal with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Commission recommends that the Plan include an explicit commitment to work with all affected parties as the functions and personnel are combined in the future.
The Commission conducted a public hearing on the plan, reviewed materials supplied by the Administration, solicited the perspective of all major fire service organizations in the state and received input from many of those who will be directly affected by the merger. Although the plan leaves the complexities of merging the two organizations to be finalized at a later date, there is widespread agreement that the consolidation is in the best interests of the State. Allowing the reorganization to move forward with conceptual simplicity will give state officials maximum opportunities to effectively re-engineer operations without the hinderance of micro-management. A check-and-balance will exist, however, because state policy makers will continue to have oversight through the budgetary process and statutory mandates that affect both the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will continue to be met. Because the consolidation holds the promise of enhanced firefighting capability and a strong focus on fire prevention, the Commission believes the Legislature should allow the plan to take effect as proposed. | ||||||||||
| Sincerely,
Richard R. Terzian Chairman |