To save money and make government more efficient, Gov. Jerry Brown, like his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, proposes to eliminate dozens of state boards and commissions that have outlived their usefulness.

High on Brown's list of boards to be axed is the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. Schwarzenegger tried to kill it, too, but failed.

The seven-member insurance board is an obvious and appropriate target for elimination. Historically it has been populated largely by termed-out legislators or politically influential friends, relatives and supporters of legislators or governors.

Members are paid a hefty $128,000 a year. The board's chairman makes $132,000. Usually working from the comfort of their own homes, board members review unemployment insurance appeals that have already been decided by administrative law judges. In the vast majority of cases reviewed, board members concur with the judges' decisions.

The board is a perennial target of newspaper editorial writers and good government reformers, who dismiss it as an expensive sinecure for the well-connected.

It is that, but still the board does work that must be performed by someone.

Federal law requires that when a state denies or approves unemployment insurance benefits, employers or employees who dispute the decision have a right to a review and reconsideration. Almost all states also offer a second level of appeal. The board hears that second appeal. Without it, an employer's or employee's only recourse would be to Superior Court, a costly and unworkable alternative.

Brown's reform would replace the seven-member board with four presiding administrative law judges, thus preserving the required second level of appeal. The savings are not huge – $1.2 million annually. And a minuscule amount of that – $6,000, according to Brown's finance department – comes from the general fund, a fact defenders of the board are quick to point out.

But the rest of the savings comes from the state's dangerously depleted unemployment insurance fund, which is billions of dollars in the red. Every penny taken from the fund puts more pressure on legislators to raise unemployment insurance rates on employers or lower the benefits for workers, both of which would be highly damaging to the economy in the current recession.

While eliminating the board saves very little money, there is no strong argument for perpetuating its existence. The unemployment insurance appeals board has become a poster child for high-level patronage. Before he asks voters to approve a tax increase, the governor needs to get rid of this board and as many other obvious examples of outdated boards, commissions and government departments as he can.

The Bee's past stands

"In good times, government should look for opportunities to find better ways of doing business. But in hard budget and economic times, that task is imperative. Overlapping or ineffective functions should be eliminated. Here's a prime example: The Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board."

– Dec. 8, 2008

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