The budget is late - no big deal, but disappointing

If the Budget Bill shall not have been finally acted upon by the Legislature seven days before the expiration of the regular session, the Governor shall issue a proclamation extending the session for some further period as may, in his judgment, be necessary for the passage of such bill; but no other matter than such bill shall be considered during such extended session except a provision for the cost thereof.

 -Constitution of Maryland, Article III, Section 52, paragraph 10.

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Yesterday, April 1st, was the 83^rd day of the 2013 legislative session. It was the target date the state constitution sets for the legislature to complete their work on the budget. 

They missed it.

It’s not a big deal. In recent years, the legislature has been late passing the budget more often than not. And in Maryland, we still get our budget finalized well before the start of the new fiscal year - in contrast to the federal government and many other states. 

Still, the General Assembly’s budgeteers should have made more of an effort to finish the budget yesterday, as the state constitution prescribes.

The penalty for missing the 83^rd day is not very severe. The Governor issues a proclamation extending the legislative session in the event the legislature fails to finish their budget work prior to the 90^th day, which normally ends the regular legislative session. If they do finish it by next Monday, there is no consequence.

Last year, the legislature passed the budget bill on the final day of the session, but failed to agree on the revenue bill needed to fund the budget before time ran out. Instead, the budget bill included an array of “doomsday” budget cuts. We characterized this as a “trainwreck,” and called on legislators to return to Annapolis to fix the problem. The legislature then returned in special session last May to approve the revenue bill and avert doomsday.

That kind of trainwreck is not likely this time. The House and Senate bills are very close to each other. The Senate cut funding from the pension contribution and put more money into the state’s “general fund balance” and a bit less in the “rainy day find.” There are a handful of other, fairly minor differences. All of these can be decided or compromised without any particular difficulty. I am sure they will get it done before the legislature reaches its adjournment at midnight on April 8.

However, it’s disappointing that legislators have not made a stronger effort to meet the expectations set out by the constitution. 

There is a lot of distrust these days about the effectiveness of our governmental processes and the competence and the motives of our government officials. In Maryland’s state government, this distrust is largely unwarranted. Our General Assembly, Governor, and appointed and career financial managers carefully steered the state through the Great Recession--the worst economic challenge since World War II. They used a balanced approach which largely protected Maryland’s investments in education and a social safety net. State leaders then worked to substantially eliminate the structural deficit over the past three budgets. This session, they have taken the responsible but unpopular step of raising revenues to fund a sound and varied transportation system.

Still, it looks bad to be late with the budget. Getting the budget bill finished on time would have been another small step to restoring the level of public confidence.