One Fish, Two Fish: Making Regional Environmental Programs and Investments Work

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"One Fish, Two Fish: Making Regional Environmental Programs and Investments Work"

Moderator:

Heather Moritz, Managing Legislative Auditor, Colorado State Auditor's Office, Colorado

Panelists:

Karl Herzog, Principal Management Auditor, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Washington

Representative Gary Alexander, Co-Chair, House of Representatives Capitol Budget Committee, Washington

Larry Novey, Chief Legislative Analyst, Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, Florida

Jennifer Giambattista, Fiscal and Policy Analyst, Legislative Analyst's Office, California

This panel discussion focused on the methods and approaches that certain states have used to evaluate programs designed to solve complex, regional environmental and natural resource problems (e.g., water quality and resource issues, endangered species recovery efforts, among others).

Karl Herzog (Washington) started the discussion with an overview of some of the geographical areas across the United States that have adopted regional environmental problem-solving approaches and programs (e.g., Chesapeake Bay watershed, Florida Everglades, and the Pacific Northwest for salmon recovery). Representative Gary Alexander (Washington) then joined Karl for a more detailed discussion about how Washington's Legislature has structured funding for the State's salmon recovery efforts and how the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee has approached evaluations in this program area. Overall, Washington has learned that a shared and strategic cross-agency approach to data management is essential in producing the information needed to manage regional environmental issues and foster sound investments of public funds in related programs. Washington has also found that the state legislature can play an important role in encouraging this shared, cross-agency management approach through various types of mandates and funding strategies.

Next, Larry Novey (Florida) provided an overview of Florida's efforts to acquire and manage state lands for the purposes of maintaining biodiversity, managing threatened and endangered species, maintaining and improving water resources, and providing recreation opportunities. Larry explained how Florida's Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability recently performed a justification review of the "Preservation 2000" program, which is aimed at acquiring and managing land for the objectives mentioned previously. Florida also found that establishing an integrated data collection and management system is essential if evaluators, legislators, and the public are going to gauge the success of a regional environmental program like "Preservation 2000."

Finally, Jennifer Giambattista (California) briefed the audience on a program called "CALFED." This is a cooperative state-federal effort aimed at solving various water quality and supply problems, as well as restoring fish and wildlife habitat, in a large section of northern and central California. To date, the primary product of "CALFED" is planning, which has presented some challenges for evaluators. Jennifer also explained some of the other oversight challenges that this program has presented, including the absence of official legislative authorization, a loosely configured organizational structure, and complicated budgetary and staffing arrangements. In response to these issues, the Legislative Analyst's Office recommended, among other things, the creation of a new governance structure and the adoption of a "transparent," cross-agency budgeting approach to improve accountability. These recommendations, when enacted, will enhance accountability and help evaluators and others gauge the success of the program in the future.