Current Gov. Jan Brewer and predecessor Janet Napolitano
As the June 30 deadline approached for adopting a state budget in 2008, there was plenty of discussion around the state Capitol about the possibility of a government shutdown once spending authority had expired. Then-Gov. Janet Napolitano claimed to have a plan to keep most agencies functioning, but never publicly disclosed it. Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he said a draft bill that would offer “bare-bones” funding for one month only for the most critical areas. But the public never saw that plan either. In the end, it didn’t matter, as the Legislature and Napolitano finally agreed to a $11 billion budget three days before the fiscal year ran out.
Now in 2009, with the same deadline just 12 days away, our state leaders have picked up where they left off a year ago. This time, Burns as Senate president is looking at a temporary proposal to fund all of state government at current levels, similar to the continuing spending resolutions adopted every year by Congress because it never adopts a complete budget before a new fiscal year starts. In his role as Senate Appropriations chairman, Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, still wants to go with the “bare bones” approach with funding only for public safety and education.
And current Gov. Jan Brewer is rapidly putting together her own plans, in case the Legislature fails to send her any acceptable spending proposal by July 1. Unlike Napolitano, Brewer’s administration is releasing at least a few details about what would happen with a government shutdown.
But it appears Republican leaders in the Legislature might be serious this year about avoiding the worst-case scenarios if July 1 arrives without an adopted budget.
Twitter
Let’s do July on the high wire. Let’s see a bare bones, minimalist government and see how we like it. If we don’t all die then maybe in August we could ease education into it. Maybe even decide that a lot of the things we didn’t have in July, we don’t really miss and improve education a bit. Sort of slowly add things, things we really want, instead fund pork and add-ons that hang around year after year for no good reason. Shut down is the best way to go here, especially in a month were, if we didn’t have any government at all, it really wouldn’t make a lot of difference.