http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/tax/Budget_toolkit.pdfI've posted that link in a reply (# 111) in my more general topic about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x591230But after seeing topics here from people wondering what's going on -- what's behind this legislative blitz targeting state pensions and so on -- I decided it needed its own topic. (Please read the general topic if you don't know what ALEC is, though, since it's important that you realize how much influence they have.)
Basically this 40-page publication is their blueprint for crippling and privatizing state governments, selling off public property, and making changes in employee benefits that will give them a rationale for union-busting.
Look at the table of contents for just one section:
IV. Tools to Control Costs and Improve Government Efficiency
A. Adopt a State Hiring Freeze
B. Reform State Pensions
C. Restructure State Retiree Health Care Plans
D. Eliminate Positions Vacant More Than Six Months
E. Delay Automatic Pay Increases
F. Adopt Activity-Based Costing
G. Adopt a Sunset Review Process for State Agencies, Boards, and Commissions
H. Allow the State Auditor to Conduct Performance Audits
I. Establish a System of Independent Recovery Audits for Improper Payments of Taxpayer Funds
J. Embrace the Expanded Use of Privatization and Competitive Contracting
K. Establish a State Privatization and Efficiency Council
L. Create a Statewide Real Property Inventory and Search the
Balance Sheet for Asset Sale and Lease Opportunities
M. Achieve Savings Through Employee Incentive Programs
B & C are the goals that involve union-busting.
J & L will turn state services and property over to private businesses and individuals.
The two most common and effective ways of extracting
value from government assets are asset divestiture (the
outright sale of government land or assets) and asset
leases (long-term leases of public assets to private sector
investor-operators). Government asset sales and leases
can take a variety of forms. In some cases, government
entities sell real property outright, in either an “as is”
or “entitled” state (having secured necessary zoning ap-
proval). In other cases, these transactions are established
as a long-term lease agreement or concession, particu-
larly for revenue-generating enterprises like a golf course,
toll road, or parking facility. In still other cases, such as
government-owned buildings, approaches include sale-
leasebacks, where the private sector purchases the prop-
erty for a fixed price and agrees to lease back the facility
to the government entity for an agreed upon period of
time. Importantly, the government entity can receive a
lump-sum cash payment in all three scenarios.
-snip-
Incentivize quick identification and disposal. State
officials should develop a system to disburse some
portion of the proceeds from real property and
asset sales to programs and departments, provid-
ing an incentive for those departments to partici-
pate in the divesture process. Agencies that iden-
tify assets for divestiture should benefit from those
sales. For example, the department that operated
the surplus property (parks, etc.) should be given a
“commission” for helping identify unneeded prop-
erty—perhaps 10 percent of proceeds—which
could be used for needed capital upgrades or other
purposes. As it stands, departments have few incen-
tives to seek divestiture opportunities because
they receive none of the benefits of surplus sales.
• Contract with the private sector to conduct a
market-value disposal of surplus property. Such
opportunities include partnering with local private
real estate brokers. Additionally, rather than con-
ducting its own live auctions, the state can employ
readily available online auction markets for the dis-
posal of property. Whereas live auctions require a
physical presence and severely limit participation,
online auctions are global in their reach and par-
ticipation.
-snip-
THIS is the more formal plan for what some rightwingers are referring to as the "yard sale" they want to have of government property, including government land whose natural resources can be exploited.
Of course this will also benefit local realtors, as this publication explains. And sales should be open to people around the globe -- after all, maybe a Saudi prince would be interested in a state park that they decide is no longer needed. And if the auctions are online, you don't have to worry about them possibly being disrupted by, for instance, pesky citizens wondering why their favorite parks are being sold. And make sure that state employees who identify property that can be sold off are "incentivized" by being given their cut, a 10% commission for such things as "capital upgrades" and "other purposes" that could be lavishly remodeled offices, luxurious junkets, etc.
Oh, and before you think only state parks would be at risk -- you should know that ALEC is also behind legislation in some states to claim the right to use eminent domain to seize federal lands and make them state property.
See reply 46 in the general topic about ALEC:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x591230They're opposed to the federal government designating land to be protected from development, or creating new national monuments.
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