Lt. Gov. Calley Meets with Detroit Business Leaders on Improving Michigan's Regulatory Efficiency; Reinventing Performance in Michigan (RPM) will improve customer response times, reduce forms by 50 percent

Contact: Melanie Brown 517-373-9280
Agency: Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

September 19, 2013 – Lt. Gov. Brian Calley today met with local business leaders at NextEngery in Detroit to discuss the Reinventing Performance in Michigan (RPM) initiative. RPM is a metric-driven customer service model for all state government departments to eliminate the burdensome regulation hurting the state’s job providers.

“What I continue to hear from businesses around the state is that Michigan is on the right track with its regulatory reform,” said Calley. “However, we must continue to eliminate delays and unnecessary paperwork so that our job providers can spend more time growing their business.”

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), in partnership with the Departments of Treasury and Environmental Quality (DEQ) is leading the effort, with the support of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

The new customer service model will conduct LEAN processes – similar to other major companies – to eliminate delays, duplicative forms and impractical regulations, while protecting the health and safety benefits in Michigan’s regulatory oversight.

RPM has four main goals for collective improvement of customer-facing requirements and processes within state government:

• A 25 percent improvement in satisfaction with the regulatory process.
• A 50 percent improvement in customer response time.
• Ensuring 100 percent of customer-facing regulatory materials are utilized and needed.
• An overall 50 percent reduction in forms.

NextEnergy, a nonprofit organization that drives advanced energy investment and job creation, is pleased with the work being done under RPM.

“The state’s new customer service-based model builds a regulatory environment that will help job growth and give business customers back valuable time they need to be successful,” said Jean Redfield, NextEnergy President and CEO.

RPM will be implemented in several phases within the pilot departments. The first phase, which was completed in July 2013, resulted in the following process improvements for LARA’s agencies:

• Bureau of Health Care Services (BHCS): Following form consolidation, the elimination of duplicate information fields and the creation of an online application, the BHCS now issues health professional licenses 60 percent faster. For more information, click here.
• Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC): By streamlining a formerly paper-intensive process, the MLCC now issues liquor licenses an average of 63 percent faster, allowing businesses to receive their liquor license 150 days sooner. For more information, click here.
• Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC): An ongoing process improvement aimed at automating the licensing process for new licenses and renewals is expected to enable the MPSC to issue motor carrier licenses up to 67 percent faster. For more information, click here.
• Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA): Having eliminated and consolidated forms, and reduced processing and customer response times, the UIA now processes tax reporting changes 90 percent faster and provides customers with their tax registration number 98 percent faster. For more information, click here.

The lieutenant governor will continue to meet with business owners around the state to have meaningful dialogue on how RPM is supporting their business, as well as other reforms that should be made to create an environment that fosters growth and job creation.  

For more information about RPM, success stories and testimonials, please visit www.michigan.gov/rpm and follow the hashtag #RPMi on Facebook and Twitter.