Legislature(2003 - 2004)
05/15/2003 08:45 AM Senate JUD
Audio | Topic |
---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SJR 3-CONST AM: APPROPRIATION/SPENDING LIMIT CHAIR RALPH SEEKINS called the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:50 a.m. Present were Senators Ogan and French. Senator Therriault arrived momentarily. The first order of business to come before the committee was SJR 3. SENATOR FRENCH moved to adopt CSSJR 3(JUD), version H. SENATOR OGAN objected for purposes of discussion. SENATOR DYSON, sponsor of SJR 3, said this version was the result of recommendations from the Office of Management and Budget. There is a list of things that are excluded and they deleted the one about program receipts. The escalator would now be the CPI plus one quarter of the change in population and divides by two for the average. The growth that would be allowed would be something less than the CPI. Any growth in the budget above that requires a three quarter vote of the Legislature. One of his constituents asked him what the penalty was for a government that ignored this. He said he was open to suggestions. CHAIR SEEKINS said both Finance Committee chairs consider this to be a very serious matter. They said their intent, once they receive the bill, would be to hold public hearings on it throughout the interim and bring a constitutional amendment back next session that would take into consideration all of the different economic factors, which he thought was a wise plan. SENATOR OGAN commented that if you change the vote to a 7/8 majority, you essentially empower two or three members of the Senate as a mini-minority to hold everyone else hostage. SENATOR DYSON countered with the argument that it gives a small number of people the power to stop more spending and that is a powerful tool. SENATOR OGAN responded that was the philosophy of the constitutional budget reserve (CBR) and it's had the opposite effect, depending on who the minority is. SENATOR DYSON pointed out that page 2, line 21, said if the expenditures are more than appropriated, the governor can reduce them. He assumed, if there are attempts to circumvent the spending cap, that various public interest groups would be in court to seek an injunction. SENATOR FRENCH said he was interested in how this would impact the state budget and wanted to look at 1992 general fund spending and apply this formula. The difficulty with any mechanical approach is if you make it too tight, you're always jumping around the exceptions and if you make it too loose, it doesn't work. SENATOR THERRIAULT said that the Finance Committee could send the bill back to the Judiciary Committee after they run the spreadsheets. He then motioned to pass CSSJR 3(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations. There was no objection and it was so ordered.
Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
---|