How to work the budget and electronic voting.
Tomorrow we are going to start the budget. The budget bill is handled different than any other bill. If you want to influence Wyoming’s spending, you need to get busy this week. Experience tells me that folks looking for less government will have a rough week.
The Wyoming Legislature went to a “mirror” budget process quite a few years back. Mirror means that the budget goes through the House and the Senate at the same time. In the Senate the bill is called Senate File 1 and in the House it is House Bill 1 – different bills, but they start out with identical language as they came from the changes the Appropriations Committee made to the Governor’s Budget.
It has been argued that the mirror budget makes things easier. Maybe it does, it certainly makes things more expensive – a lot more spending occurs because the process pushes the money pedal as hard as it can.
Here is the schedule for the week. On Monday (the 18th) we will start the first reading of the budget. It starts in the House and the Senate on the same day and the goal is to finish up with all three readings on the same day, which probably will be Friday. We still work other bills too, so if you are following them, don’t assume that they will not be considered because we are only focusing on the budget.
The Senate restricts amendments to the second and third readings only. If an identical amendment is adopted in both houses, then barring an extraordinary need to balance the budget on the part of the conference committee, it is adopted. The Capitol is a busy place as lobbyists and legislators scurry between the two chambers to try to get the same amendment on in both.
The Senate has always required a recorded vote of each member – what we call the “ayes and nays”-- for budget amendments that affect expenditures. The House did not used to require vote recording on the budget. Millions of dollars have been authorized in unrecorded voice votes that gave the Representatives the ability to say that they were fiscal conservatives when in reality they voted differently. Recently the House has adopted the Senate approach. This is a good thing and my kudos to them. You can now follow how your legislator treats your budget wishes…have fun.
Here is where you can see the budget which is the same in both houses:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2008/Introduced/HB0001.pdf
And you can follow the House amendments and how your favorite Representative is voting at:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2008/Digest/HB0001.htm
The Senate amendments and the votes of yours truly and my Senatorial friends can be seen at:
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2008/Digest/SF0001.htm
The digest sites are updated at the end of the day. You can also follow the process via live audio at: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2008/audio/AudioMenu1.htm
The large number of budget votes and the fact that they will necessitate roll calls by the Chief Clerk in each house will make many think about the fact that Wyoming is one of the few states that does not have an electronic voting system. We have looked into it a couple of times, but never implemented it, mainly due to concerns about how it could be manipulated or is out of character with our historic legislative chambers. I am of the opinion that we need such a system and that it can accommodate our voting rules and beautiful historic capitol.
Follow the budget this week and let us know what you think about electronic voting. By next week the budget will be assigned to a super conference committee to work at the differences between the House and the Senate. The conference committee process adds a new dimension and increased importance for the mirror budget as the respective bills do not have to go to the other house for approval. We will have more discussion on the conference committee later.
All the best, Cale
