Senate committee reviews Executive Order O1-25 to reorganize public safety into an agency

The Senate Committee on Government Operations on Feb. 11 reviewed Executive Order O1-25, which would reorganize the Department of Public Safety into an Agency of Public Safety, and compared the executive order to S.155, the Senate-passed 2022 reorganization bill that did not become law. Committee members pressed legislative counsel and union representatives for details about statutory changes, appointment authority and potential costs.

The review centered on how the executive order’s organizational chart and duties compare with the earlier bill and what statutory cleanup would be required for the agency to exist without inconsistencies in state law. "There were over 200 statutes that would be affected by this change," Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, told the committee, noting that some fixes are technical while others would require action by the General Assembly.

Anderson told the committee that S.155, as proposed in 2022, would have created two departments under the new agency — a Department of Fire Safety and Emergency Management and a Department of Law Enforcement — and would have included a Division of Support Services. He said the…