 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
||
|
||||
 |
|||||
|
7/30/2007 The Five Stages of State Budget Delay By Steve Baas The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. In the state’s “How a Bill Becomes a Law” publication it sounds quick, simple and easy: If the two houses of the state Legislature pass two different versions of the same bill, a conference committee is formed to reconcile those differences. When the conference committee sits down in the coming weeks, however, what we will see will look a lot less like “How a Bill Becomes Law” and a lot more like a Snickers commercial: “Not going anywhere for a while?” The versions of the state budget passed by the Wisconsin Assembly and Wisconsin Senate could hardly be more divergent – practically or philosophically. As a result, the conference committee process of working out these differences may take a long time. While there is an unpredictability to the eventual outcome, there is a five-stage predictability to the process as inevitable as the five stages of grief. Over the next weeks and months you may want to follow along. Stage 1: Denial This stage takes on two forms – “it can’t be done,” and “you can’t be serious.” We’ve already seen both in Madison. Many people confidently predicted that to reach his stated goal of a zero tax increase budget, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch would have to make such harsh cuts that he wouldn’t even be able to pass such a budget through his own caucus. As soon as Huebsch proved these naysayers wrong by successfully passing a budget with no tax increases, these opponents immediately shifted to, “This is not a serious budget document. It is just a negotiating position.” Wrong again. Both the Assembly and Senate budgets reflect the values of the majority of their members. The fact that they are markedly contrasting visions does not make them any less serious or real. Stage 2: Anger Let the hyperbole begin! Because general school aids were “only” increased by $150 million, the Assembly has turned its back on a generation of our children. Because public broadcasting didn’t get all the money they’ve asked for, they will have no choice but to end the Amber Alert system for missing kids lest any loyal listener have to miss an episode of “BBC World Service” or “Simply Folk.” Changes in shared revenue were “a vindictive attack” on Democrat areas – which apparently no longer include the People’s Republic of Madison, which escaped unscathed. During this anger stage, no charge is too outrageous, no outcry too pathetic. Hell hath no fury like a spender separated from the government trough. You may have noticed that we are squarely in the middle of this stage right now. Stage 3: Bargaining Within weeks and sometimes even days of a budget stalemate editorial boards swarm to this stage like flies to road kill. You’ll recognize this stage by its own distinct language. “Compromise” = Give up on your convictions. “Statesman” = A person who is quick to give up on their convictions. “Leadership” = Someone who publicly encourages others to give up on their convictions. This stage is especially ironic. Many people today love to bemoan the perceived lack of legislators of principle who are willing to take a stand. Yet in the derangement of Stage 3, these same folks become leading voices in the chorus telling legislators that passing a budget – any budget – trumps all other principles or positions. The basic fallacy of this stage is that it turns the budget into an end in itself, instead of a means to the actual end of rationally and responsibly managing the state. Stage 4: Depression Ever been on a long car trip with the kids repeatedly asking, “Are we there yet?” If so, welcome to Stage 4. As the summer drags on without a budget, the public tunes out, the conferees tire out, and legislators get out to county fairs and community meetings where they are pestered about the budget fight by people who have long since forgotten what the fight was about in the first place. The press, running out of stories on budget substance, fills the gap with an obsession on budget process. How many days is the conference committee meeting? Did anyone have a private sidebar conversation? Do Senator Robson and Speaker Huebsch’s personalities clash? During this stage, the governor and the press trot out the “it’s time to get the people’s work done,” angle. Bored rank and file members gain instant media celebrity by publicly going to their leadership with the plea of, “Can we just get this done?,” which is the legislative equivalent of “are we there yet?” Stage 5: Acceptance In the end, there is an end. What is commonly misunderstood, however, is that there are really three options for that end that are all equally legitimate, permissible, and anticipated by the framers of our state constitution. The first is the customary end where the conference committee finally agrees to accept an omnibus state budget bill that is then approved by the full legislature. Our state constitution also provides that if no new budget is passed the state proceeds under the previous budget. Everyone’s spending remains stable. While the lack of new funding to keep up with rising costs will cause some disruption in government programs at all levels there is no government shutdown. The third option lawmakers may accept is to pass individual emergency spending bills for certain areas of government while not passing an omnibus state budget bill. In this way, the architects of our state have provided a way for lawmakers to deal with urgent or emergency needs without tying it to a “must-pass” omnibus bill. Over the coming weeks and months you will see these five stages played out by those grieving the delay in a state budget. Many will criticize the conferees for their “stubbornness” or “partisanship.” That is a shame. While politics plays a role in stalemates like this, it is passion that plays the lead role. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are passionate about their positions because they believe in them. Democrats believe that guaranteeing health insurance for everyone is important enough to the real lives of real people to justify the $15 billion in taxes they would take out of those people’s paychecks to pay for this new government program. They are not willing to cavalierly “compromise” that away because they believe the well being of their constituents would be harmed if they did so. Similarly, Republicans constructed a budget with no tax increases because they truly believe that hard-working individuals and families need that money in their paychecks and in their pockets more than government needs it. Driven by that conviction, these Republicans built a budget that grew government less in order to empower individuals more. Asking them to drop that conviction is asking them to do something they believe would harm their constituents. On issue after issue in the budget, the two political parties’ values, priorities, and beliefs about what makes Wisconsin a better place to live are in fundamental disagreement. While occasionally inconvenient, the vigorous debates and even extended delays caused by those disagreements are the crucible in which the direction of our state is set on policies that impact every facet of every day life for every person in this state. Those are pretty high stakes. In fact, those stakes are so high that, rather than bemoaning budget delays, we should hope the day never comes when lawmakers care so little that they would rather rush to find quick answers than wrestle to find the right answers. -- Baas is currently the government affairs director for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. He formerly worked as a spokesman for past Republican Assembly Speakers Scott Jensen and John Gard. |
|