2004 Winner: Charter Agencies

Under this program, six agency directors volunteer to sign agreements with the governor promising to meet specific performance goals. In exchange, the directors are granted greater flexibility and more authority to run their agencies in a manner that will achieve the performance goals, including making their own decisions about personnel, purchasing and technology.

2004 Finalist: Iowa Excellence

Using techniques from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program to improve state agency performance, this program includes rigorous agency self-assessments and planning.

2004 Finalist: Lighten Up Iowa

This program is a statewide team competition that encourages healthy weight loss, physical activity and good nutrition among state employees.

2004 Finalist: Construction Permitting Business Improvement Program

This program streamlines the process of issuing construction permits by eliminating unnecessary steps, adopting more user-friendly application forms, and implementing a hotline. These actions have reduced the average time for issuing a permit from 62 to 11 days.

2003 Winner: Pollution Prevention (P2) Intern Program

This program places college graduate and upper level undergraduate students in Iowa's businesses, industries and governmental agencies for a 12-week period to help identify, evaluate and implement ecological and economical solutions for specific environmental issues or problems.

2003 Finalist: Tax Gap Compliance Program

This program uses technology to help the Department of Revenue and Finance accurately collect all taxes owed to the state. Through a combination of data warehousing and a customized software application, the program has generated $26 million more in tax revenues than the baseline collections during the three-year development and implementation period.

Have an innovative program in your state? Apply for an Innovations award!