By Denise Ross

The Legislature’s appropriations committees should begin their review of the governor’s proposed budget right after the governor’s annual budget address in early December, Rep. Jeff Haverly has proposed.

Haverly said that even when the appropriations committees meet twice as often as other legislative committees, they struggle to adequately sift through the state’s $3.3B budget in 35 or 40 work days.

And to serve adequately as an equal branch of government - and the branch charged with controlling the purse strings - Haverly said a change is in order.

The governor has all year to spend your money and then propose it to us.

(Photo by David Larson)

Haverly at Saturday’s crackerbarrel in Rapid City.

After observing the budget process and the appropriations committee members’ serious attempts to keep a better eye on the executive branch’s fiscal practices throughout the year - seeking written commitments from top Rounds aides to adhere to legislative decisions through letters of intent, for example - I can say Haverly is correct from a purely pragmatic standpoint.

It’s fairly obvious that the executive types try to run the clock out on the Legislature on all sorts of issues, and that’s as a legitimate tactic as any. But it also would be legitimate for the Legislature to flex their muscle and make the exec types run a lot longer, perhaps to exhaustion. I don’t know if Haverly’s colleagues would join him in December with enthusiasm.

Maybe they could set up geographically oriented subcommittees, so that Black Hills legislators could have their December meetings in the Black Hills, Sioux Falls types in Sioux Falls, etc., until the official session kick-off in January.

Spread the word

Hide Sites