Edgar Triggers 'Massive Reorganization' of Illinois' Six Human Services Agencies

Beginning of article

Byline: Don Thompson Daily Herald State Government Writer

SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Jim Edgar on Wednesday signed into law what he termed "the most massive state government reorganization since the early part of this century."

Over the next year, all or parts of six human services agencies will merge into the largest department in state government, with 20,000 employees and a $4 billion budget.

The law won't result in significant savings to taxpayers in either money or bureaucrats, and in fact could cost tens of millions of dollars simply to consolidate all the disparate agencies' computer systems.

Instead, the goal of all the bureaucratic shuffling is …