They Were On a Break
Cidu Bill on Mar 24th 2010
I was reading today how the New York State Assembly and Senate are just now finishing up their respective 2010-11 state budgets and how the two versions still have to reconciled and voted on. If this isn’t done by April 1, the state essentially has no money and state workers and teachers among others likely won’t get paid. The deadline is unlikely to be met, though, since the legislators start their week-long Easter-Passover holiday this weekend.
Now, here’s a goofy thought, so crazy that nobody seems to be mentioning it. How about… they don’t get their week-long vacation? This seems rather obvious to me, so no doubt I’m missing something — but passing a budget is probably the most important aspect of their jobs. You don’t go home leaving it undone.
I’ll take this a step further, which I wrote about elsewhere last year when the Pennsylvania Legislature was weeks past deadline in getting its state’s budget passed: If a state budget is one week past deadline, the legislature should be dissolved. Automatically. New election scheduled for one week later. If the electorate wants their old guy to stay on, then fine — but he has to earn back the remainder of his term. He has to explain his role in schools and state offices and parks being closed, and state employees not being able to pay their rent.
But this will be a moot point, because I can pretty much guarantee that no state budget will ever be late again.
Filed in Bill Bickel, New York, Pennsylvania, politics | 34 responses so far
Frank the curmudgeon Mar 24th 2010 at 06:37 pm 1
Where is Cromwell now that we need him.
Frank the curmudgeon Mar 24th 2010 at 06:37 pm 2
Where is Cromwell now that we need him?
turquoise cow Mar 24th 2010 at 06:48 pm 3
well, they could do things the way they did in New Jersey a few years ago. The budget didn’t get worked out in time, so the governor just shut down the state government. I mostly remember this because I was working retail at the time and knew many very angry people who couldn’t buy their lotto tickets.
Charlene Mar 24th 2010 at 07:01 pm 4
Considering that Cromwell’s best-known feat was to murder or enslave hundreds of thousands of people whose only crime was that they happened to be of a different ethnic background than he was, I think we can do without him.
Craig Mar 24th 2010 at 07:10 pm 5
While I love the idea Bill, I don’t think it is very feasible in reality. Campaigns take a lot of time and money to get started (not to mention vetting said candidates). When you also factor in the cost of a special election as well as the time to get that up and running a week is too short.
I’d love to see it happen however. here in Ca, I don’t think we’ve seen a budget done even close to the deadline (usually 6 months late)
yellojkt Mar 24th 2010 at 07:54 pm 6
But how could you get the legislature to pass such a rule?
paperboy Mar 24th 2010 at 08:09 pm 7
Man! Is this Cidu Bill or Michael Savage??
Kamino Neko Mar 24th 2010 at 08:32 pm 8
Up here, the Conservative Party got a WHOLE lot of capital out of the fact that the Liberals were threatening to force a new election, because the Cons weren’t doing their job. ‘They want to waste money on an election YOU don’t want!’
Any rep who proposed this solution would find his ass kicked in short order.
mrkenneth Mar 24th 2010 at 10:56 pm 9
If you have not figured out that politicians in general believe themselves to be above most anything, you have not been paying attention.
Winter Wallaby Mar 25th 2010 at 12:14 am 10
I actually suspect that this would result in a lot of late budgets, since parties that thought they would have an advantage in new elections would have an incentive to hold up the budget. Particularly in states where you need a supermajority to pass the budget.
Cidu Bill Mar 25th 2010 at 12:36 am 11
Winter, regardless of how parties might benefit, no officeholder is going to jeopardize his own job.
Rid Mar 25th 2010 at 04:25 am 12
@Kamino: I don’t see anything wrong with Liberans forcing Conservatives out. They need to be banned from government, anyway.
Powers Mar 25th 2010 at 07:10 am 13
Bill: A modestly late budget in New York State has little to no concrete effect on individual government employees. We had 20 years of late budgets and the main complaint was from school districts who didn’t know how much money they were going to get before their own budgets were put before voters in May. But vitally, no teachers or other public employees went without pay just because the budget was late. I see no reason that would change this year if the budget is a little late.
Of course, they absolutely *should* pass a budget on time. That’s their job, and they shouldn’t be taking time off while that job is unfinished. But the idea that the state will have no money between April 1 and whenever the budget is passed is generally not true.
Tom T. Mar 25th 2010 at 07:27 am 14
In Virginia, the legislature passes two-year budgets, so this is less often an issue.
Hank Mar 25th 2010 at 07:59 am 15
I don’t know about NY specifically, but for a number of states, as well as the federal government, spending does not shut down when a budget is not passed. The budget outlines the spending plan for the next fiscal year, including new cuts or increases. The state’s default to the previous year’s spending plan, sometimes passing a continuing resolution to do so, until the new budget is approved. The biggest downside for state employees in this case is that they do not get their COLA or salary increases until the new budget passes. Their pay is not withheld, it just remains at last year’s level during that time.
Nicole Mar 25th 2010 at 08:24 am 16
As Powers pointed out … we have had alte budgets for many years now. So many that the news is when we pass a budget on time — not when it is late.
As to your proposal, while it may have merit, I am not sure it is very practical. One glaring problem I see, If the legislature is dissolved, the budget will be much much later in passing. The state senators and assembly people will all of a sudden have to campaign instead of getting their work done.
What I would do is require the legislature to live at the average level of their constitutents. No perks, no outrageous salaries … they get to live like you and me. You can bet, budgets would be passed, pork for big corporations would be gone and the government would be focused on dealing with the problems that face all of us.
Usual John Mar 25th 2010 at 08:35 am 17
Cidu Bill, I can guarantee that if your proposal is adopted, seriously late state budgets will be much MORE common. There is always one party that believes that it would be better off if a snap election were held now. If that party were in a position to make that snap election happen, it generally would do so. And the snap election would not necessarily give the newly elected legislators any incentive to move faster, unless you have further tweaks to your plan.
Dyfsunctional Mar 25th 2010 at 08:42 am 18
I’m not sure where the idea that people won’t get paid is coming from. I’ve been an employee of the State of New York for 23 years; in all that time, there were plenty of years where the budget was late (sometimes by several months) and I’ve never missed a paycheck or been asked to not come to work. There’s tons of stuff preventing that kind of thing, not the least of which are some pretty strong unions.
John Small Berries Mar 25th 2010 at 10:24 am 19
Nicole writes: What I would do is require the legislature to live at the average level of their constitutents. No perks, no outrageous salaries … they get to live like you and me.
I would also suggest that legislators should be forced to do their own taxes every year, all by themselves, with no accountants or professional assistance. I’d bet we’d see a major simplification of the tax system in fairly short order.
CIDU Bill Mar 25th 2010 at 10:55 am 20
I am seriously convinced at this point that the IRS wants people to file electronically and is delibeately making it more and more impossible to fill out the tax forms without computer assistance.
CIDU Bill Mar 25th 2010 at 11:05 am 21
I just remember the recent incidents in New Jersey and Pennsylvania where, respectively, all state agencies were effectively shut down (which led to the closing of Atlantic City casinos), and all employees received IOUs (which didn’t pay the rent).
While it’s true that dissolving the legislature would also cause harm, I’m convinced it would never happen. Legislators’ first priority is keeping heir own jobs. In virtually all cases, this trumps both principle and party loyalty.
And honestly, finding alternate candidates for the office can certainly be done on short notice: we’re not talking about the thoroughness with which a political party would vet a vice presidential candidate like Sarah Palin: this is the state legislature. I defy anybody here to name both their state senator and state representative — or even to tell me with absolutel certainty whether their state has both a senate and an assembly.
Nicole Mar 25th 2010 at 11:08 am 22
John Small Berries #19 I think that would qualify as living like you and me. I would also limit their vacations to two weeks a year, and while we are at it let’s make them ‘exempt’ so they don’t get paid overtime.
Keera Mar 25th 2010 at 12:14 pm 23
Since it is tax season both there and here, I wonder what the average American would make of the Norwegian system:
For years, everything gets reported automatically. Once we computerized, we got print-outs with all our income, loans, interest paid, etc. on it. If the figures are right, sign and mail. If not, write in the correction, sign and mail. Now it’s all electronical. I don’t fill out anything online, I just look at the PDF, nod my head in agreement - and this year I can ignore it. If I do nothing by the deadline midnight April 30, my tax return is considered filed. All this happens so easily because every f-ing bank, employer and lender has my Norwegian SSN.
The only down-side to tax returns in Norway, is that Norway is the only country on the planet that makes people’s tax return results (income, debt and capital) public. That I can do without, and I may get my way thanks to today’s crime level and the internet: Burglars have begun to use online financial info to pick their targets.
Winter Wallaby Mar 25th 2010 at 01:04 pm 24
Keera, do you happen to know if the Norwegian tax system is much simpler than the American one? In the U.S., banks and employers send your relevant info to the IRS also, but there are all kinds of things that can affect your taxes that banks and employers don’t know about - e.g. home improvement expenses, educational expenses, charitable donations, the type of car you drive, money you make selling illegal drugs, etc, . . . It’s hard to imagine the government being able to keep track of all those things accurately.
Keera Mar 25th 2010 at 01:14 pm 25
Winter #24, that pretty much is the case here in Norway, too. A lot of things get reported besides wages and loans (my charity donations are, with my consent), but there are always things that can slip through the cracks, like home improvements, medical expenses, and illegal activities. I’d like to see someone report that latter.
Winter Wallaby Mar 25th 2010 at 02:51 pm 26
Keera, why wouldn’t you report illegal activities? The fact that you’re, e.g. selling an illegal drug, doesn’t exempt you from your duty to pay taxes on it: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6668
Keera Mar 25th 2010 at 03:18 pm 27
Winter, I don’t understand the page you linked to. I just assumed that if you admit to the IRS you’re up to no good, they tell on you. I have no idea what Norway does.
Winter Wallaby Mar 25th 2010 at 09:36 pm 28
Keera, that was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. You’re legally required to report income from illegal activities, just as with any any self-employment income, but I doubt many people actually but the marijuana tax stamps.
Keera Mar 26th 2010 at 02:16 am 29
Winter, I know enough about the IRS (and Norway’s equivalent) to know that they want their taxes, no matter what. I’m just not sure about the inter-agency tattle-telling in either country. I also noted that California wasn’t on the list and that’s all I care about.
jjmcgaffey Mar 26th 2010 at 04:15 am 30
15> I worked for the US Department of State in the 90s (90-97). There was at least one year in which the federal budget did not get passed, and we did not get paychecks for that month (at least two missed payperiods). When they finally passed the budget, we got catchup checks - but that month-and-a-bit was a _pain_.
Powers Mar 26th 2010 at 06:58 am 31
Bill: My state legislators are David Koon and Jim Alesi. The latter is the jerk who supposedly supports gay marriage but voted against it when it came before the Senate because they took the vote alphabetically and he didn’t want to be the first Republican to vote for it. Or it was “the wrong time” or some crap like that.
So there. And I think it’s harder than you think to find a candidate willing to run, even for state legislator. County legislatures, you may be right, but for a state like New York, running for state legislature is a big deal and exposes you to a lot of scrutiny.
Todd Mar 27th 2010 at 03:39 pm 32
The IRS does not make the tax laws; that’s Congress’ job; we only enforce those laws. (Yes, I am an IRS employee. And I try to keep in mind that every penny that goes into my pocket came out of yours (U.S. citizens).)
Prosfilaes Mar 28th 2010 at 04:02 pm 33
The IRS is pretty clear; if you’re a drug dealer, you have to report the income, but you don’t have to say it’s from drugs; just write down that it came from sales.
Keera Mar 28th 2010 at 04:08 pm 34
Hold on, Prosfilaes, isn’t that the sort of advice that got ACORN into trouble?