Burnt Orange Report

Comptroller Strayhorn Rejects Budget

By Byron LaMasters

Whoa, this is interesting:

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn took the historic step Thursday of rejecting lawmakers’ version of the state budget, saying it would have outspent available revenues by $185.9 million.

“When my staff completed tallying the effects of the 4,000 pieces of legislation” passed in the just-completed legislative session, “the budget did not balance,” Ms. Strayhorn said.

“I would have loved for the Legislature to have adopted a budget that I could certify.”

Ms. Strayhorn’s action makes it likely that Gov. Rick Perry will add the budget to the special session he has called on congressional redistricting for June 30.

[...]

Anticipating the comptroller might find their budget out of whack, lawmakers had added a provision that if she found there was not enough money to carry out their two-year, $117.4 billion spending plan, Mr. Perry and the 10 lawmakers on the Legislative Budget Board could cut spending by the amount needed to make the budget balance.

Ms. Strayhorn dismissed that contingency plan as unconstitutional.

An amendment to the Texas Constitution that voters approved in 1942 makes it clear, she said, that if she rules that an appropriation bill would outspend available revenue, she must return the bill to the house of the Legislature where it originated.

“There is no appropriations bill,” she said. “This bill has not been certified.”

Ms. Strayhorn said it was the first time a comptroller has found a state budget bill to be unbalanced since the 1942 constitutional amendment required her office to check state coffers to make sure they contain enough cash to cover spending measures.

Although predecessors rejected spending bills on a couple of occasions, she said, the measures involved were not the state’s two-year budget bills.

Ms. Strayhorn said the budget sent to her would have been “more than a billion dollars short” if last month’s federal tax-cut bill had not included relief for cash-strapped states.

Even with that money, it fell short, she said.

Ms. Strayhorn said she counted money from measures she found repugnant – such as draining the state’s emergency money in the “rainy day fund” and several one-time maneuvers, even though she believes they amount to “pushing the problem to future taxpayers.”

The Houston Chronicle also reports:

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn rejected the state's $117.4 billion budget on Thursday, sending the two-year spending plan back to lawmakers to rewrite before the end of the current fiscal year on Aug. 31.

"This is the first time a Legislature has sent the comptroller a budget that is not balanced," Strayhorn said. "I cannot certify this budget because it is $185.9 million short."

The state constitution requires that the Legislature pass a balanced budget and it cannot be sent to the governor's desk to sign into law without the comptroller's OK.

Perry has called a special session to begin June 30 to address Congressional redistricting but had not yet added the budget to his order by early afternoon.

"While the announcement is disappointing, I believe legislators can quickly address her concerns," Perry said in a prepared statement. "I will continue working with the leadership of both chambers and with Comptroller Strayhorn, and I am confident we can address this issue quickly."

Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said Strayhorn's action means the governor will not be able to veto any line of the budget, since he does not have a budget to sign.

Well, this certainly isn't good news for Republicans. Stayhorn is becoming an increasing pain in the butt for them. Last month it was the cigarette tax proposal, and this month, she rejects the budget. Heck, I'd even consider voting for her. Ok, maybe not, but if Marty Akins runs again, I'd consider it. Regardless, the point here is that this is the first time that the legislature has utterly, completely failed to balance the budget. It's also the first time that Republicans have had complete control of the process. Interesting. Coupled with the record deficits in the federal budget, can anyone, anyone tell me with a straight face that the Republican Party is the party of fiscal responsibility???

I didn't think so.