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The Iowa Legislature got off on the right foot last week when a Senate subcommittee approved a study bill on early-retirement incentives. Proposed by Gov. Chet Culver’s office, Senate Study Bill 3002 is designed to encourage as many as 2,261 eligible state employees to leave their jobs.

Leaving those positions unfilled is seen as a way to save $60 million during the next five years, although that number is certainly open to quibbling. Subcommittee member Sen. Jerry Behn, a Republican from Boone, chose not to endorse the bill, and unanswered questions about the projected savings were part of his concern.

In an e-mail, Behn also disagreed with Sen. Staci Appel’s push to include all state employees. “If essential personnel retire and are simply replaced with less experienced, less expensive employees, the savings will be much less and perhaps barely cover the retirement bonus,” he wrote.

But it’s still a fine first step toward cutting costs and streamlining state government.

The average citizen doubts that we need all of the state employees we have – or that their compensation and benefits need to be so generous. There’s not much political risk in backing the idea.

And it’s also a game-changer in a time that’s ripe for changes.

The debates about moving money back into areas that have been cut, or shifting money from road projects to the State Patrol, those are examples of thinking small. We have a forced opportunity to think big. Sure, we could draw down the reserve to restore spending to education. But House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen was right when he said: “We need to do it not through the rainy-day fund; we need to do it by finding additional efficiencies in state government.”

Consolidate computer systems. Downsize the state vehicle fleet. Cut some positions permanently. Charge state employees for their health insurance premiums.

In other words, run the state like a business.