Politics & Government
Rep. France Supports Effort to Ensure Efficient Use of State Property
Watch Rep. France speak on this bill at the link in the below release.
HARTFORD – The House of Representatives agreed yesterday that the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) should, in their annual inventories of state real property, report on the efficiency of state agencies’ use of facility space. State Rep. Mike France (R-42) stood in support of this measure – which he proposed – before the vote, which was approved unanimously.
An Act Concerning the Utilization of Buildings Occupied by Executive Branch Agencies, House Bill 5244, requires OPM to conduct a census of the number of state employees per square foot in buildings occupied by executive branch agencies in order to consider the level of efficiency of each state agency’s use of real property, and determine whether their buildings are being underutilized. Rep. France introduced this concept during the 2015 session in H.B. 5040, but it unfortunately was not passed.
“This bill will provide us with objective criteria to understand the efficient use of space, as well as start a dialogue between the agencies and the Legislature on the use of their office space,” said Rep. France, member of the Government Administration and Election Committee, where this bill was introduced. “As our staffing changes, and the intent and policy of how we run our state government changes, it will give us the opportunity to determine ways to consolidate state resources and decrease costs for the operation of state government. I am in full support of this initiative.”
