“The reviews of the 2009 Legislature are in, and they’re not pretty.” So starts a recent column by Lanny Keller in the Baton Rouge Advocate.
“Overall, the session's results fell well below the expectations Louisianians had after the reforms achieved during last year's legislative sessions.” That’s the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“Hope for systemic change in state government was high as the Louisiana Legislature started its session at the end of April…What a shame that we find ourselves on the other side of the 2009 legislative session with virtually nothing accomplished.” And that’s the assessment of the Alexandria Town Talk.
There are more like that, but you get the picture. What emerged out of this legislative session more than anything else was a feeling that state leaders never really got their hands around the serious budget issues that will face our state over the next two to three years.
Certainly, there was much debate about budget cuts, but little discussion about how we will adapt to the new fiscal realities facing our state while protecting our future and the things that are important. The good news is that we did choose to mitigate some of the cuts for this year. And while that’s better than what was originally proposed, it wasn’t as prudent as some of the other very reasonable ideas that would have allowed Louisiana to plan more strategically over three years for the significant downsizing of state government that is to come.
The shortness of time we now face puts a tremendous amount of pressure on state leaders who say they want to “streamline” state government and “restructure” higher education. Why? Because streamlining and restructuring suggest a methodical approach that moves us in a direction that is planned. But that’s a hard thing to do for government.
What usually happens during fiscal shortfalls is that cuts are proposed for everyone, more-or-less across the board, then everyone fights to restore whatever revenue they can. But streamlining and restructuring require tougher choices because they demand that our leaders make conscious decisions to change things. That doesn’t happen very often.
For the record, anyone can cut state government. It’s been done many, many times before. All you have to do is determine how much you want to cut and tell every agency to do it. But in a fiscal situation like the one we’re in, the old way of doing things does a disservice to our citizens because it suggests every service, every function and every activity of state government is somehow equal. They’re not. If we are about reform we must be about having our state leaders stand up, declare the state’s top priorities and maintain them through this fiscal downturn. And, yes, that might well come at the expense of some other things.
As we move into the new fiscal year CABL asks our state leaders to articulate a vision of what they see for Louisiana in the face of the budget cuts we know are still looming. Tell us state government will be smaller and different, but show us what that will look like. Reassure us that our priorities for the future won’t be critically damaged and that cuts will be made with an eye on preserving what’s most important. That’s what we need, but not what we’ve gotten.
The real work begins now. The Times-Picayune said it well,“
We're in a serious time, a time to publicly evaluate the state's priorities while protecting its future. Louisianians expect Gov. Jindal and legislators to launch that discussion now, so the next session does not go by without major reforms.”
That’s the bottom line, and we can’t afford to wait.