By Rep. Bob Vogel
The Legislature is in the midst of bringing finance bills through the process in order to establish a new two-year state budget between now and our scheduled adjournment in late May.
As a member of two key finance committees, and as vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, I have been working very intimately with the finance bills. The work on Ways and Means is particularly critical since it’s the final stop for each of the House’s 11 omnibus finance bills before floor action. This gives me an opportunity to participate in establishing the completed product before it proceeds for final passage.
The State Government Finance Committee, one of the two finance committees I serve on, plays an important role in shaping our state’s operation and I’ve found work on that panel to be particularly interesting because it oversees approximately 40 state agencies, and drives some very demanding decisions. Our responsibility is to strike a balance in providing adequate support so agencies can fulfill important functions, while also ensuring sustainability in terms of size, scope and future budget commitments, because if left unchecked, spending will multiply over time.
To assist in our goal of long-term fiscal responsibility, I have learned the significance of accuracy in projected cost estimates because they will impact the state budget and, of course, ultimately the taxpayers who pay the expense. I’m appreciative that legislation I have authored this year that would create a nonpartisan Legislative Budget Office to provide legislators fiscal notes (estimates) has been included in the State Government Finance Committee’s omnibus finance bill.
The objective of the bill is to improve accuracy by putting fiscal projections an “arm’s length” away from both the executive and legislative branches. Having an independent body would not only increase objectivity by eliminating potential conflicts of interest which now exists, but also provide a more probing and unbiased indication of how much a proposal would cost taxpayers.
The potential also exists for the LBO to assist the legislative bodies with ongoing financial analysis so we can see what is working, and what is not. A good example of this was recent testimony from the Office of Management and Budget when I found its management of a gainsharing statute did not properly implement the statute. Over a period of four-plus years, it has paid out over $6 million in bonus payments, which doesn’t seem consistent with the statute.
Although things like this can be caught in an audit, it’s far better to analyze entities on an ongoing basis before the money is spent so either the process can be enhanced, or they are stopped from spending money if it’s not done in a correct manner.
Although progress to date has been good, of course the culmination remains. Some of the more noteworthy components which have passed toward the House’s overall budget proposal include $1.35 billion in tax relief, $2.1 billion toward our transportation needs with an emphasis on the roads and bridges without raising taxes, and $1.1 billion in new funding for K-12 schools compared to the 2016-2017 biennium.
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