Responding to recent opinion polls that support a referendum to give North Carolina's governor veto power over the legislature, the state General Assembly is taking steps to reclaim some authority in the budgeting process.
State Senators Aaron Plyler and Lyons Gray are leading efforts to establish an independent commission to regulate unplanned changes to the budget by the governor. As it now stands, the governor currently has enormous appointing power and influence over spending when the state congress is not in session, said Don Follmer, the director of communications for Speaker of the House Harold Brubaker.
Currently, North Carolina's governor is the only governor in the nation who does not have the power to veto legislative bills. The Speaker feels that if the governor is going to get the veto next fall, there should be a limit as to how much he can change the budget which is organized by the legislature, Follmer added.
The General Assembly's concern about budget appropriations stems from several examples of when the governor's office has incurred a major shift in public policy without public debate, Kinsella said. In 1994 Governor Hunt unilaterally contracted to send 1,000 prison inmates out of state which cost the state $20 million. In 1990 Governor Martin was shifting money around to meet obligations, resulting in a $350 million budget shortfall, which was approximately 5 percent of the state budget.
Plyler, co-chair of the Executive Budget Act Revision Study Commission, said that his reasoning behind the proposed review commission was to reacquire some of the power the state legislature has gradually transferred to the governor since the Executive Budget Act in 1925 originally denied the governor veto power.
As the proposal now stands, the commission would be composed of members appointed by the governor, speaker of the house and senator pro-tem.
Plyler added that the commission would only convene if a state program was exceeding its designated expenditures or if money needed to be transferred from one state program to another to accommodate its needs appropriately. The commission would not take away any of the governor's power to allocate money in cases of emergency which include such things as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or anything else that would necessitate the calling out of the National Guard, Plyler said.
Although the commission is still discussing the plan and has yet to release its details to the public or to the governor's office, officials in the governor's office said they are skeptical about the intentions of the commission and its effects on efficiency.
"[The plan] would create another layer of bureaucracy that is unneeded... and delay the governor's ability to respond to unforeseen events and emergencies," said Clay Johnson, deputy press secretary in the governor's press office. Such a plan would take away flexibility, reduce the government's efficiency and restrict its ability to respond to the state's needs, he added.
Much of the debate centers on the definition of emergency funds, which the governor can allocate at will. There are some types of emergency events that may not be mentioned in the legislature's proposal, said Kym Spell, assistant press secretary to the governor. Under contention, for example, are emergency funds for state-funded universities experiencing a marked jump in enrollment requiring "additional tuition to equip additional classrooms for additional students," Spell said. This is just one possible example of how the proposal might limit the governor's discretionary spending capabilities in an urgent situation, she added.
"Just about everyone outside of the legislature, both Democrats and Republicans, can see that this is a bad decision and bad policy, but power seems more important than good policy to the legislators who are proposing this," Johnson said.
The governor's office and the General Assembly have also conflicted over the reasons behind, and the structure of the proposal.
"In a time of budget crisis, the general assembly budget oversight commission will not be so stringent that [the governor] cannot maintain programs," Kinsella said.
The commission is meeting April 18 to discuss further all of the important details of the role and power of the proposed commission.
"[Legislators] want to make sure that there is some consideration and continuity in policy and the implementation stage," said Bret Kinsella, communications director for the North Carolina Senate. The purpose of the proposal is to deal with major shifts in public policy contrary to what had been decided or not discussed in legislative sessions, and the proposal will ensure accountability for significant departure from the state budget, he added.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.