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DEL.ICIO.USOverride bait: Equal budget footing for the Senate?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As you know by now, the House voted to override 12 vetoes by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday.
Senators we’ve talked to say they may consider one, two or three of the bills. But not the complete dozen. Republicans in the House acknowledge this. That was the plan all along, they say.
But which bill — or bills — will the Senate pick?
Keep your eye on two: H.B. 529 and H.B. 91. Both codify the existence of two separate budget-writing operations for the Legislature, one for the House and one for the Senate.
To the general public, this might seem like a very small, bureaucratic point. But to the Senate, it looms large. Either bill would acknowledge — symbolically and institutionally — the Senate’s (near) equal status with the House when it comes to influence over the state’s $20 billion budget.
Under Democratic rule, the General Assembly had only one budget office to match the number-crunching operation of the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
Because the state Constitution gives the House the first crack at the budget one the governor cuts it loose, that chamber naturally came to dominate this single, shared budget office. Which meant that, in House-Senate budget tussles, the Speaker held a distinct advantage. He who controls the numbers, controls millions of dollars in pork and policy.
In 2002, once Republicans took over the Senate and stood opposite a Democratic-controlled House, the need for a separate budget office became dire. Senate Republicans quickly cobbled together their own team of financial analysts.
The cobbling continues. Money for the Senate Budget Office comes through a joint House-Senate committee. In other words, the Senate Budget Office exists at the sufferance of the House.
If H.B. 529 or H.B. 91 were to become part of the Georgia Code, the Senate Budget Office would exist as long as the chamber it serves wants.
Three times the Legislature has sent the governor a bill to formally establish a House Budget Office and the Senate Budget Office. Three times the governor has vetoed it.
We ran into state Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) on Wednesday. He’s chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
We asked him about the issue. “It’s of some significance,” Hill said.
Said Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams: “It’s important.”
Neither would declare the two bills to be override material, but clearly they’re a temptation.
H.B. 529, sponsored by state Rep. Richard Royal (R-Camilla), is the more straight-forward measure. H.B. 91, sponsored by state Rep. Jill Chambers, requires a series of financial reports to be filed by state agencies to specific legislative committees — as well as the separate House and Senate budget offices.
Comments
By GaVoter
January 17, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this
Thou shalt not be endowed with conditional equality.