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 Legislature Ends “Not with a Bang but a Whimper.”
by Tom Campbell
August 13, 2009
The 2009 session of The General Assembly is over, ending, as T.S. Eliot wrote, “Not with a bang but a whimper.” It will be best remembered for missed opportunities.
The worst economy since The Great Depression is the overarching contributor to this legislative session. What was happening on the national stage impacted our legislators. They convened as the debate over the federal stimulus was ramping up and adjourned during the heat of health reform.
It is no wonder that a great theme of this legislature was contentiousness. We had the obvious animus between Republicans and the Democrats who run the place. The rural versus urban conflict was noticeable, as were racial tensions, generally carefully hidden under the surface. But a palpable chasm developed between the House and the Senate.
The House, with 120 members elected from smaller geographic districts, has traditionally advocated for what they believe to be the average citizen, whereas the 50 member Senate has been more closely identified with business and wealthier citizens. But this session further deepened the philosophical and political chasm between the two. The half-hearted attempt by the Senate to pass a spending plan, with no revenue package to accompany it, was a ploy to shed responsibility for what they knew had to come – tax increases. The bluff and bluster of the House that there would be no tax increases on hard-working citizens already reeling from the recession was itself a ploy. Nobody wanted to own the problems created by the recession or the resultant inevitable action. They couldn’t or wouldn’t cut their way out of a huge budget deficit, but neither did they want to raise taxes.
For all the angst generated over passing the budget, our take away is this legislature faced crisis and backed away from it. They wasted a great opportunity to have reformed government, to have set a new vision, to have led instead of being led by events.
They passed legislation, some of it worthwhile, but shied away from decisions on issues of state that needed direction and leadership. We see clear evidences of this in their inability to pass further ethics reforms, to clarify a broken school governance system (which the legislature itself created), decide whether to modify annexation laws or find a lasting solution to the state health plan. And the legislature assumed no responsibility for the failed mental health reforms they passed in 2001, the inept administration of those reforms or in finding solutions to them. Withholding funding, while perhaps understandable, is a cruel prescription for people who are mentally ill.
Their biggest failing was to seriously undertake reforms of our tax codes. Instead they continued giving economic incentives to select businesses and industry, further complicating and confusing already unmanageable tax policies.
In fairness, our leaders faced choices that were not good. We give them credit for having good intentions. Factions within both houses, fueled by lobbies and special interests, were so entrenched in support of their own agendas that it was extremely difficult finding consensus. The budget they agreed upon was a modern-day creation of an elephant. Legislators passed a budget they will come to regret. The present mood of the public is angry. They are afraid for their present and future wellbeing and it is unlikely that their mood will be better come November 2010, when legislators all stand for re-election.
The budget left almost no cushion for error and, coupled with what we understand are continued declining revenues, it is likely this budget is already out of balance and that Governor Perdue will be forced into further rounds of budget cuts.
It is easy to understand, then, why our lawmakers were so eager to end this session and go home. Maybe time away from Raleigh will give them better perspective. |
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