Posted on Wed, Jul. 9, 2008
The latest state budget deal in Harrisburg was a defeat for open government.
Many Pennsylvanians probably weren't paying attention to the last-minute budget negotiations, which culminated on the Fourth of July. And that's exactly what legislative leaders wanted.
To recap: Gov. Rendell submitted his 2008-09 budget in February. The legislature procrastinated for several months, as usual. As the June 30 budget deadline approached, Republican legislators and Rendell spent as much energy shadow-boxing about whether it was legal to furlough state employees in the absence of a budget as they did trying to agree on an actual budget.
Rendell and the leaders of the House and Senate finally reached a handshake deal after midnight on June 30 - behind closed doors, of course. Their timing averted furloughs for state workers, and made it appear that a budget accord had been reached on time for the first time in the Rendell era.
But when Rendell and the legislative leaders emerged from the back room, there was little on paper to show the public or fellow legislators. They had an agreement in principle, but little else.
For the next four days, House and Senate leaders worked on the fine print of the $28.3 billion spending plan. State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) advised colleagues to leave Harrisburg until the budget was completed, to avoid queries by lobbyists and advocacy groups eager for details in the mystery document.
In the end, this budget - which increased overall spending by 4 percent - accomplished some good. Education spending increased 5.5 percent, and there was no tax increase. However, some of the tricky election-year accounting combined with the faltering economy may result in a huge budget shortfall and possible tax hike next year.
That's why there needs to be openness when legislators divvy up tax dollars. The final budget document became available about 10 p.m. on Thursday. By 6 p.m. on the Fourth of July, the legislature finished voting on the new budget.
In doing so, legislators retreated on important principles of open government that they instituted only last year. In the wake of the 2005 pay-raise scandal, the House approved new rules to prevent late-night, stealth lawmaking. One of those rules says representatives get at least 24 hours to read a bill before voting on it. But the rule can be waived by a two-thirds vote. Government watchdog Tim Potts said that's exactly what the lawmakers did last week. As the House rushed to finish the budget, members voted 11 times to suspend their good-government rules. They succeeded 10 times.
It's this type of shell-game budgeting that prompted Common Cause to sue the legislature in 1995, claiming the secretive process was unconstitutional. Commonwealth Court agreed. It hasn't taken long for the legislature to lose its way again.
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