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Tight budget times call for scrapping Big Brother

Saying "no" to a couple of ill-conceived, Big-Brotherish initiatives in the Department of Public Safety's exceptional items budget would save the Texas taxpayers $159 million in a time when budgets are tight. Neither are an effective use of criminal justice resources compared to other ways the state could use that much money.For starters, in its list of "exceptional items" (pdf) in its legislative budget request, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it would cost $129,147,375 over the next biennium to implement the federal REAL ID Act. Strangely, that's about half the amount DPS said implementation would cost in 2007 (when the Legislature declined to fund the changes), but it's still a lot of money. Back then, DPS estimated the ongoing costs for Real ID implementation would be as much as $100 million per year after startup was complete - perhaps that number for the out-year costs will decline, too, now that Col...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).