Cedar Rapids Gazette: Governor Branstad Creates “Another Diversion”
Terry Branstad had an idea back in the early 90's, and it was promptly laughed out of the room. He wanted biennial budgets- or to pass a budget every two years.The Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote an editorial 1992 calling Branstad's plan "[r]idiculous" and that the arguments for doing this were "very slim."
It’s no surprise that candidate Branstad has reintroduced this idea. He is, as the article describes, “playing the game” to “score political points.”
Here's the full editorial from the Cedar Rapids Gazette on February 5, 1992.
Another diversion
THAT SOUND ECHOING across the countryside a few days ago could well have been Iowans cheering robustly for Gov. Terry Branstad's suggestion that Iowa legislators abandon the routine of annual sessions they have been following since 1970.
Return to biennial sessions, Branstad advised, knowing full well that it can't be accomplished merely because he wishes it to happen. Such a change would require voter approval for a constitutional amendment.
Given current frustration with politicians, of course, we imagine voters would stampede to the polls for a chance to cut in half the amount of time legislators can spend in Des Moines. "Iowans are safe now," goes the gallows humor in the Capital, "the Legislature isn't in session."
Would that life were so simple. Build a moat around Des Moines to keep lawmakers out in alternate years and all our problems will evaporate. Ridiculous!
Iowa is a $3.3 billion business. And like it or not, the Legislature is its board of directors; the governor the chief executive officer.
The state's budget is in a muddle now, with the board of directors meeting annually to track spending and income. Imagine what could happen if they had to add another full year of expenditures and revenue estimates to their projections.
Advocating biennial sessions now might be a politically popular thing to do, with the Legislature and its members taking a daily pounding over ethics. That's a valid concern, but once the ethical considerations are removed, arguments for reverting to biennial sessions become very thin. Still, modifications might be in order.
Other states, for example, seem to operate quite well with shorter legislative sessions. No reason that couldn't be the case in Iowa.
Or, a first-year session in each biennium could accommodate not only budget issues, but other public policy questions, while the second year could be limited to spending policy.
It may score political points with Iowans for a politician to advocate dramatic change in the form of state government biennial sessions or (as House Speaker Bob Arnould suggested) a unicameral legislature. In the end, however, any answers for what ails Iowa today must come from those people playing the game, not in the frequency of the game or the number of players.