As N.C. House and Senate budget negotiators meet to work out their differences, Sarah Curry hopes they will avoid the temptation to engage in traditional legislative logrolling — one chamber accepts funding for the other chamber’s priorities, in return for the expectation that the other chamber will do the same. The end result of logrolling is a larger budget than the state or its taxpayers need.
Curry’s latest report explains how a “reverse logrolling” report would lead to negotiators accepting the lower of competing budget totals for each department of state government. That approach would yield $667 million for lawmakers to use to fund their high-priority teacher pay raises, while leaving state government with a surplus.
Reverse logrolling — if you are a fiscal conservative, you’ll want to watch this brief video, posted at sister blog The Locker Room.
