Next Wednesday will be a busy one for the State Senate Rules Committee as they hold hearings, and votes, on a slew of pieces of proposed legislation. State Senator Jeff Denham will occupy a good portion of the committee’s time as he has introduced a great many of those bills himself. But this morning I wanted to highlight three of them – two great ideas, and one not-so-great idea.
First – the great ones – SCR 68 and SCR 69 are described thusly by the Senate Republican Caucus:
- Conference Committee Membership: SCR 68 would change the budget conference committee membership that meets on a budget bill to 10 members (from 6 members). This measure would also establish a different procedure to appoint members to this committee. SCR 68 states that the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly will each appoint three members, and the minority party caucuses in each house will each appoint two members.
These two proposals are a great idea. Right now, the budget process in the legislature is, for lack of a better description, a farce. There is no give and take or working out of anything in budget subcommittees or in the budget committee itself, because Democrats have set up rules that allow items to pass out of these committees on a majority vote. The kicker, of course, is that the budget itself, must pass off of the floor both the Senate and the Assembly with a two-thirds vote. By creating a process where the two-thirds standard must be met in committee, in ensures that there is actually a reasonable chance at ultimate passage. The current process simply means that Democrats pass a budget from the conference committee that reflect only their ideology and priorities.
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