After returning home from the legislative session, I was greeted by our golden retriever, Buddy. He was enthusiastic, as usual, and acted like he really was happy to have me home. It reminded me of a message on a church sign board that said, "Lord, make me the person my dog thinks I am."
Buddy treated me like I was a great man. He jumped and danced and made me feel very welcome in my own home. His disposition improved mine.
Working four months on a budget for the state and not producing a product is depressing. I am not happy about this result, nor am I pleased that a special session will be announced by Gov. Daniels. This convoluted budget process has not produced a result that serves the state's citizens.
The proposal that was defeated 71-27 by the House had very obvious problems. With dramatically declining revenues, this budget spends more than $700 million above projected revenue.
Everyone needs to know state revenues are far below projections. In April 2009, the forecast was depressing. Actual collections have missed forecasted revenue targets by these amounts: January - $130 million, February - $30 million, March - $82 million, and April - $255 million.
The situation creates an almost impossible budget-generating process. When revenues are declining faster than expected, no budget plan is very credible. Just maintaining a flat-lined budget may be impossible.
What to do now? All of us involved need to take a brief timeout and take a deep breath. Then we need to dive in and gather as much information as possible and try again to formulate a state budget.
Setting emotions and criticism aside is a must. All parties have to undergo the proverbial attitude adjustment, withhold the criticism and produce a good product.
I hope the public can sort through the criticism by the media and show a little tolerance as this difficult situation gets resolved. It is not a free pass I am seeking, but some understanding that this anticipated revenue problem is real and difficult to solve.
The legislature has always produced a budget, and I am confident it will be successful again.
Buddy listened to me say all this stuff about the budget, and he still was glad to see me. Then, I told him about the unemployment insurance legislation, and he just tilted his head and acted interested.
As I have written before, the unemployment insurance fund is in trouble. So many Hoosiers are out of work, the system is just overwhelmed. The state has borrowed almost $800 million from the federal government, and there is no relief in sight.
The settlement passed by the legislature does improve the revenue side of the unemployment insurance fund. It substantially raises taxes on employers and does not lower benefits paid to employees.
The solution is very one-sided and only begins a long-term process to solve this problem.
For a variety of reasons, I disagreed with the bill. It raised taxes on employers during a very difficult economy. It is only a partial solution, and it seems that the problem is addressed in a very unbalanced manner.
By the time I finished talking to Buddy about this subject, he was acting disinterested. In fact, he led me over to his empty dog dish and stared up at me. His message to me was very direct: "I've listened to your unsolved problems, now solve one for me. Fill my food dish. I know you can solve this one!"
Buddy is a very smart dog. I'm going to work on his expectations. I'll write more as we progress.
More later,
Bill Friend |
