Iowa’s Budget Boondoggle

Governor Branstad has brought the legislative process to a halt.  Legislators should have closed up shop for the season and headed home twelve days ago, but the lack of a budget keeps them from adjourning.  The biggest stumbling block is the Governor’s demand that the Legislature pass a two-year instead of a single year budget.  He said he wanted this on the campaign trail and has been insisting on it since taking office in January.  You would hope creative minds could have found a compromise in the intervening four months.  Nope, Iowa is short on creative minds in the halls of power these days.

In fairness, I will admit I like the concept of a two-year budget.  The annual posturing over appropriations makes for poor government and makes planning for the future harder than necessary.  With a two-year budget, school districts, local government and state agencies could spend more time doing the vital work they were designed to do and less time pounding the marble floors of the Capitol politicking for funds.  Even better, the Legislature could spend less time tinkering with budget formulas and more time, well, legislating.  And, that is precisely why legislators do not like the two-year budget concept.

Legislators say a two-year budget gives the Governor too much power to move money around without legislative approval.  This is a valid concern, but this concern can be overcome by hammering out a new law regarding how the budget can be adjusted during the two-year cycle.  The argument about gubernatorial power is a smoke screen.  The annual budget battle gives Legislators an excuse to spend the majority of their time dividing up the spending pie.  The uncertainty this battle creates gives them cover.

“I really would have loved to address Iowa’s most pressing issues like education policy, economic development and public safety, but we just couldn’t in this tough year.  The budget consumes our time,” we are told by many elected representatives.

The problem is that every year is a tough budget year.  If Iowa could hammer out a biennial budget, legislators would be able (or forced to, depending on your point of view) to debate and pass legislation without having to be hassled with the budget.  Yep, they would have to take a look at the big picture and actually lead a little.  Instead, they prefer to paint a picture that they are fighting the ever-critical budget fight and their hands are tied from doing anything else.  That political cover goes away if the budget is dealt with every other year.

There are a hundred ways to get the two-year budget done.  The Governor might have to give up some of his power to move money between sessions and commit to an allowable growth formula for schools greater than 0.  The Legislature might have to set a budget and stick to it for once, and roll up their sleeves and legislate more and worry less about distributing the financial largess of tax dollars in an attempt to win political points.   All this takes is some creativity and willingness to do the job.  What am I thinking?  Both of those things are rarities on the Hill these days.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.