Over the last few weeks we have talked about the different tax reform plans as well as the budget proposals and negotiations in the North Carolina General Assembly. This week I would like to discuss more of the politics of the budget process and what that means for spending measures.
North Carolina operates on a fiscal year beginning July 1st and ending June 30th of each year. If the legislature does not come to an agreement by June 30th, a temporary spending measure will be enacted to fund state operations until negotiations are completed. This is formally known as a continuing resolution. By definition it is a type of appropriation legislation used by the government to fund agencies if a formal budget bill has not been signed into law by the end of the state’s fiscal year. Since 2000, only two budgets have been signed into law before the June 30th deadline, one of those being signed before the deadline, the other being signed on the 30th.
The obvious reason for budget negotiations to be extended past the June 30th deadline this year is tax reform. The real reason though is that a deal doesn’t have to be decided by the deadline. More budgets than not are passed after the deadline with the accompaniment of a continuing resolution. Unlike most other states and our neighbors, North Carolina has no formal limit on legislative sessions. In theory, there is some political pressure to wrap things up and for legislators to go home, but in practice few voters pay attention to Raleigh politics in the middle of the summer. An interesting coincidence, most budgets are passed before, or shortly after the beginning of the school year.
A continuing resolution was introduced today in the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee; this bill continues funding at 95% of 2012 funding levels until July 31st or until a budget is passed. A full outline and explanation of the continuing resolution can be found here.
|
Budget Bill & Year |
Continuing Resolutions |
Conference Committee Appointed (Senate, House) |
Final Passage of Budget |
|
2013 — S402 |
H336, favorable report out of committee |
June 19th & June 20th |
|
|
2011 — H200 |
H383, vetoed by Gov. and not needed |
No Conference |
June 15th |
|
2009 — S202 |
S311, passed on 6/30 and extended till 7/15 H1504, passed 7/15 and extended till 7/31 H102, passed 7/31 and extended indefinitely |
June 15th & June 16th |
August 7th |
|
2007 — H1473 |
H2044, passed 6/30 and extended till 8/1 |
June 5th & 6th |
July 31st |
|
2005 — S622 |
H1630, passed 6/30 and extended till 7/31 H1631, passed 7/19 and extended till 8/5 S191, passed 8/4 and extended till 8/11 |
June 20th & 21st |
August 13th |
|
2003 — H397 |
None |
May 5th & May 1st |
June 30th |
|
2001 — S1005 |
S42, passed 6/30 and extended indefinitely |
June 28th & July 3rd |
September 26th |
Regardless of the reasons why negotiations are extended, this is not the way a responsible government operates. There should be a hard and fixed deadline for the session to end. In Governor McCrory’s budget, he put a price tag on a week of session amounting to $123,760. The longer the tax reform and budget negotiations lengthen the legislative session, the more tax dollars are spent paying politicians in Raleigh. They get paid more the longer they procrastinate, and that practice needs to come to a screeching halt.
If Governor McCrory is correct in his estimate of the cost of session for one week, citizens have already spent more than $2.6 million this year.
