House GOP breaks budget tradition

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In a sharp break from tradition, House Republican leaders proposed Wednesday to give government bureaucrats the power to decide which programs should be funded and which should be cut.

Republican leaders said they were doing away with the usual budgeting process, which involves specific dollar appropriations for the state's thousands of programs.

Instead, the Republicans propose to give departments lump sums for the budget year that starts July 1, and let department officials spend the money as they choose. No other state uses such a budgeting method, a national group said.

The change would relieve the Missouri Legislature of having to make controversial decisions on the budget. Missouri lawmakers have been struggling to cover a budget shortfall projected at as much as $1 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.

"There is absolute, total flexibility" under the plan, said House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods. "We're giving these department directors the opportunity to put people first."

Democrats questioned whether the plan would violate the Missouri Constitution, which requires that "every appropriation law shall distinctly specify the amount and purpose of the appropriation."

Democratic Gov. Bob Holden said Republicans were acting irresponsibly.

"They spent so many years talking about spending problems that they haven't been able to come to grips with how to solve the problem," Holden said in a telephone interview. "I was hoping we would have a thoughtful discussion, and they have passed the buck to the Senate."

The House Republican plan is expected to go first to the House Budget Committee and could be debated next week by the full House, where Republicans hold a 90-73 majority. House passage would send the budget to the Senate, whose Appropriations Committee could rewrite it.

If the plan ultimately is adopted, Missouri would be the only state to provide lump-sum appropriations to its departments, said Arturo Perez, a budget analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"Such an approach would be giving up quite a bit of authority vested with the legislature," he said.

Under the House Republican plan, departments' budgets for next year would be based on their budgets from fiscal 2001, in which general state tax revenue was about the same as is forecast for fiscal 2004. The Corrections Department would receive more money than it did in fiscal 2001, reflecting the increase in the state's prison population.

Appropriations for many other departments would be smaller than in 2001, based partly on specific program cuts that occurred in subsequent years or had been recommended by lawmakers preparing the 2004 budget.

Wednesday's announcement followed weeks of work by various committees recommending specific program appropriations. House committees already had cut $414 million from the budget proposed in January by Holden.

House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden had set a target of an additional $372 million in cuts or new revenue to balance the budget. But his committee had made little progress identifying more places to cut.

No rankings

Republican House leaders had asked department directors in Holden's administration to rank their programs from most important to least and suggest places to cut. But department directors -- with Holden's support -- generally have refused to do so, instead replying that all remaining programs are important.

The new budget approach by House Republicans essentially would force departments to prioritize their programs.

"We are giving back to them a framework and saying, 'Do your work,"' Hanaway said.

Democrats responded that it was House Republicans -- in a majority for the first time in nearly 50 years -- who were failing to do their work.

"Just saying 'this is the number for the department' does not meet their constitutional requirements," said Rep. Rick Johnson, D-High Ridge. "They've been waiting for 50 years to get control of the House, and they've had control for two months and they quit."

House Republican leaders said lump-sum appropriations to departments would still comply with the constitution.

Veteran budget writers in the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, expressed surprise and concern about the House Republican approach.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman John Russell, a legislator since 1962, appeared stunned when informed by a reporter about the House Republican plan.

"It's so different than the traditional way of doing a budget," said Russell, R-Lebanon. "I better just reserve comment until I study it a little bit."

Sen. Wayne Goode, also a legislator since 1962 and a longtime member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he was befuddled.

"It appears that they are trying to use a very simple process to solve a very complex problem, and I don't think that will get us there," said Goode, D-St. Louis.