The Legislature has adjourned, but the dust from this session probably will not settle before next year's session begins. Louisiana, like many other states, is at a critical crossroads. Two governors and two different Legislatures significantly overspent volatile oil and gas revenues in the two years prior to the current one. That was the major cause of the budget crisis state government faced this year. The problem is easy to identify. Simply go back to the decision made under the Blanco administration to fully fund the Rainy Day Trust Fund and allow skyrocketing oil and gas revenues to flow into the state general fund where they could be spent on recurring expenditures. That is exactly what the Legislature did in Governor Blanco's last year and again in Governor Jindal's first year in office. This year, the chickens came home to roost. Unfortunately, even more chickens will be looking for roosting space in the next few years.
Last Thursday, the head of the Congressional Budget Office told Congress that the federal budget is unsustainable going forward with current spending levels-much less the increases being proposed. Some well-credentialed fiscal guru needs to give our governor and Legislature the same message.
In addition to Louisiana's declining revenue problem, the federal government has informed us that, due to a temporary upward blip in personal income, we will be paid $1 billion less in Medicaid money next year. Our state leaders are on their knees begging for mercy from that decision, but there is a strong likelihood that their pleas will go unanswered. Compounding the problem is the fact that in two years, hundreds of millions in "stimulus" dollars will no longer be coming from Washington. The time to plan for that is now, not two years from now.
Another ominous sign on the horizon is the very negative attitude the Obama administration and the majority in Congress is showing toward the oil and gas industry. The industry is facing a drastic increase in taxes and more restrictions on domestic exploration and production. If domestic oil and gas activity is curtailed by new federal laws and regulations, our state revenue picture will become even bleaker.
Governor Jindal is first up at bat in addressing these problems since he must submit an executive budget proposal to the Legislature early next year. What the governor submits in his annual executive budget usually provides the basic blueprint for what comes out of the process. Certainly, the governor can't expect any increase in revenues coming from natural growth in the foreseeable future. That being the case, he will supply the early vision as to how state government must be reconfigured to match appropriate spending levels with real-world revenue projections. His executive budget should also clearly indicate what his spending priorities will be.
The executive and legislative branches should not wait for next year to begin reshaping the delivery of state services to match new revenue realities. Close scrutiny should be given to state funding of local government services, consolidation of functions in post-secondary education, civil service reforms that would enhance state government's ability to consolidate its workforce, and other spending reforms that would reduce the expense side of the state fiscal ledger.
It was fun to be governor or a legislator in the revenue-boom years after the hurricanes when recovery money was flowing and oil and gas prices were setting records. The party is now over. It is time to clean up the excesses and make government work as best as possible with the revenues that are available. That is what families are doing all across Louisiana. Their elected leaders should follow suit.
Showing posts with label Legislature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legislature. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Games People Play
Dan Juneau
A recent ruckus in the state legislature has created a lot of anger and garnered national media attention. The incident involved a sneak attack amendment that Representative Avon Honey managed to get tacked onto one of his bills. The result was a 99-0 vote in the House of Representatives for a bill that, as amended, would enact changes in Louisiana’s unemployment compensation law to be eligible for unemployment compensation stimulus money approved by Congress.
There is more than meets the eye in this maneuver. The bill that was amended was on the “consent calendar” of the House agenda. That part of the agenda is reserved for bills that are totally non-controversial and can be considered quickly in order to speed up the legislative process. The original bill pertained to changes in the workers’ compensation law—not unemployment compensation.
Placing an unemployment compensation amendment on the bill violates the “dual object” provision in the Louisiana Constitution. That provision is designed to maintain order in the legislative process by preventing bills from being hijacked willy-nilly by amending them to have more than one objective.
Essentially, Representative Honey’s last second, unconstitutional amendment to his bill on a calendar reserved for totally non-controversial bills violated the legislative process on several levels, but that was just the opening act. When the bill arrived in the Senate, another game was played when it was referred to committee.
Under the Senate’s rules, the bill should have either not been referred due to its dual object flaw or, if referred, it should have gone to the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. Instead, the bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, presumably under the pretext that it has an impact on state finances.
Senate rules do provide for the dual referral of bills that have a significant fiscal impact. However, the rules clearly state that those bills must first go to the substantive committee (in this case, Labor and Industrial Relations), and only if they advance from that committee should they go to the Finance Committee for the fiscal impact review. The rules of procedure were abused and violated in both the House and the Senate on Rep. Honey’s bill.
Why?
Unfortunately, it has a lot to do with game-playing and message-sending. The unemployment compensation stimulus issue has devolved, to a significant degree, into a Republican versus Democrat and Jindal versus Obama spat. Other bills were filed to do exactly what Rep. Honey’s unconstitutional amendment attempts to do.
However, each time those bills were scheduled for hearing in the House committee, the authors declined to have them considered in a free and open debate on their merits. Instead, the route of subterfuge and abuse of legislative rules was taken.
Governor Jindal’s opposition to taking this portion of the stimulus money has to do with future tax increases on struggling employers to pay for the added benefits once the federal money is gone. His objection is a valid one. Some claim that the stimulus money in question is needed to delay tax increases and benefit cuts that will occur as unemployment claims climb in the future.
That is a bogus argument. Those tax increases and benefit cuts will occur next January regardless of the stimulus money. What the changes in our unemployment compensation law will do is bring us closer to additional employer tax increases and unemployment benefit cuts in the future as the unemployment trust fund has to continue to pay for the new benefits once the stimulus money is used up.
There is room for honest debate about the unemployment compensation stimulus money. There shouldn’t be any tolerance for abuse of the process so that some folks can play games and send messages.
A recent ruckus in the state legislature has created a lot of anger and garnered national media attention. The incident involved a sneak attack amendment that Representative Avon Honey managed to get tacked onto one of his bills. The result was a 99-0 vote in the House of Representatives for a bill that, as amended, would enact changes in Louisiana’s unemployment compensation law to be eligible for unemployment compensation stimulus money approved by Congress.
There is more than meets the eye in this maneuver. The bill that was amended was on the “consent calendar” of the House agenda. That part of the agenda is reserved for bills that are totally non-controversial and can be considered quickly in order to speed up the legislative process. The original bill pertained to changes in the workers’ compensation law—not unemployment compensation.
Placing an unemployment compensation amendment on the bill violates the “dual object” provision in the Louisiana Constitution. That provision is designed to maintain order in the legislative process by preventing bills from being hijacked willy-nilly by amending them to have more than one objective.
Essentially, Representative Honey’s last second, unconstitutional amendment to his bill on a calendar reserved for totally non-controversial bills violated the legislative process on several levels, but that was just the opening act. When the bill arrived in the Senate, another game was played when it was referred to committee.
Under the Senate’s rules, the bill should have either not been referred due to its dual object flaw or, if referred, it should have gone to the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. Instead, the bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, presumably under the pretext that it has an impact on state finances.
Senate rules do provide for the dual referral of bills that have a significant fiscal impact. However, the rules clearly state that those bills must first go to the substantive committee (in this case, Labor and Industrial Relations), and only if they advance from that committee should they go to the Finance Committee for the fiscal impact review. The rules of procedure were abused and violated in both the House and the Senate on Rep. Honey’s bill.
Why?
Unfortunately, it has a lot to do with game-playing and message-sending. The unemployment compensation stimulus issue has devolved, to a significant degree, into a Republican versus Democrat and Jindal versus Obama spat. Other bills were filed to do exactly what Rep. Honey’s unconstitutional amendment attempts to do.
However, each time those bills were scheduled for hearing in the House committee, the authors declined to have them considered in a free and open debate on their merits. Instead, the route of subterfuge and abuse of legislative rules was taken.
Governor Jindal’s opposition to taking this portion of the stimulus money has to do with future tax increases on struggling employers to pay for the added benefits once the federal money is gone. His objection is a valid one. Some claim that the stimulus money in question is needed to delay tax increases and benefit cuts that will occur as unemployment claims climb in the future.
That is a bogus argument. Those tax increases and benefit cuts will occur next January regardless of the stimulus money. What the changes in our unemployment compensation law will do is bring us closer to additional employer tax increases and unemployment benefit cuts in the future as the unemployment trust fund has to continue to pay for the new benefits once the stimulus money is used up.
There is room for honest debate about the unemployment compensation stimulus money. There shouldn’t be any tolerance for abuse of the process so that some folks can play games and send messages.
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