MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In a memo sent Thursday to all Alabama state agencies, Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledebetter, R-Rainsville, and Senate Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, are demanding transparency and cooperation in their ongoing efforts to improve government efficiency.
“Our priority is to maintain a government that is accountable to the people, and that commitment will continue under our leadership,” reads a joint statement released Thursday from Ledbetter and Gudger. “…As legislative leaders, we will remain steadfast in our efforts to uphold transparency, efficiency, and accountability in Alabama’s government.”
Ledbetter recently revealed that the Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services, a state-established body created in 2019 to assess the effectiveness of state agencies and services and to make recommendations for improvement, would be holding a series of public hearings sometime in March or April. Ledbetter likened ACES to President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, previously saying that Alabama had “been doing the DOGE committee before it was popular.”
The first of such hearings, which will educate lawmakers on ACES’ accomplishments over the past several years, is scheduled to take place on March 19, a spokesperson for Ledbetter confirmed Thursday.
In the memo sent to all Alabama state agencies, Ledbetter and Gudger write that any agency that refuses to share information relevant to government expenditures for ACES to evaluate will be “reported to legislative leadership,” as well as to the budget chairs of both chambers. Ledbetter and Gudger also ask in the memo that each agency assign one employee to serve as a person of contact for ACES.
Improving government efficiency has been top of mind for both Republican and Democratic state lawmakers in recent weeks, with Alabama House Democrats recently unveiling a three-bill package designed to improve government efficiency, among the bills being the aptly named DOGE Act, which would require regular fiscal analyses of government programs exceeding $50 million in projected or actual costs as a means to track and account for government spending.
Gov. Kay Ivey has also been a vocal advocate of improving state government efficiency, and in a statement Thursday, backed Ledbetter and Gudger’s efforts to further streamline the exchange of information between ACES and state agencies.
“All levels and branches of government must always strive to best serve our citizens, while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Ivey said. “Both the executive and legislative branches of state government in Alabama effectively work as a team to ensure we are most efficiently serving the people of this state. I am proud to have members of my cabinet and staff be a part of this effort to ensure more money stays in our taxpayers’ pockets.”
The hearing on March 19 will be held at 3 p.m. at the Alabama State House in Montgomery. Marcus Morgan, director of ACES, will give a presentation before the House Committee on Fiscal Responsibility.
The renewed effort to improve government efficiency, Ledbetter and Gudger said in their joint statement, was to continue the “responsible budgeting” they say the Alabama Legislature has accomplished since Republicans took control of the House and Senate in 2010.
“Since Republicans assumed control of the House and Senate in 2010, Alabama’s fiscal outlook has improved significantly,” their statement reads. “Our state no longer spends beyond its means, proration has been eliminated since the passage of the Rolling Reserve Act in 2011, debts have been repaid, and reserve accounts have been replenished.”