State government won’t shut down even if lawmakers fail to pass a budget, senior lawmakers assured the public yesterday. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted Senate Finance Chair John H. Chichester: “If necessary, we would have a continuing resolution of less than 30 days” to continue all government services.
That’s comforting. But it would be even more comforting for the Senate and House of Delegates to approve a budget before any extra-constitutional hijinks were necessary.
(comments below)
(comments below)
I’ve heard that the logjam now is that the Senate wants to load up on non-transportation spending so there wouldn’t be a surplus for the House to bargain with.
I’d like to see the state actually shut down…it would be great payback to see the most talented and mobile senior managers and workers leave the state and force the GA to deal with the likely higher costs of not only replacing them, but no one to respond to their pet issues.
And, it put the constitutional crisis to a real test for a budget to not be passed and the Governor to act. Given that there would be no authority to spend, how could attorney the general bring suit, simply by acting on his own? Would he have immediate standing, or would he have to wait until he could demonstrate he was harmed by the governor’s action? Further, how could the supreme courtact since it would have no authority to spend, i.e. conduct business?
Who would be able to make a ruling?
It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the next election, particularly in Richmond and surrounding communities.
State employees I know have been thrown into a “don’t know if I’ll get paid – can’t take a temp job because no one knows what’s going on – don’t know if I’ll have health care coverage – do I liquidate assets in preparation for a long shutdown” mess.
Businesses dependent on the state are similarly impacted – think of the vendor or contractor who can’t contract past July 1. Think of the businesses dependent on state services after July 1 – hotels near state parks, restaurants dependent on ABC, car dealers dependent on DMV, insurance companies dependent on DMV, etc.
Now add up the number of state employees, the local employees with a state share of their funding, the judicial employees – and the businesses dependent on the state.
After going through this, you think they won’t keep this in mind when they vote?
Who thought this was a good idea?
His Lordship Sir John Chichester thinks it is a good idea.
Gov. Tim Kaine might think it is a good idea if the House caves in on time and raises taxes.
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