Never a good sign...

Senate President Brandon Shaffer is pushing SB12-019 which will suspend pay for legislators if the General Assembly fails to deliver a budget on time. In the case that the legislature does not agree on a budget and a school finance bill each member of the General Assembly will have their pay and reimbursements suspended until they deliver a bill (or until December 1) as a way to encourage them to come to agreement. 

This gets kind of complicated even if you are a regular follower of Colorado politics. The General Assembly is required (or "is limited"... depending on your preference) to be in session 120 days each year and this period occurs as a regular legislative session from January to May. Special sessions may be called beyond that but are rare. If the legislature fails to deliver the budget before its "120 Days Cap" then it must adjourn and reopen in a special session. If it does, and if Senate Bill 19 passes, then legislators will not receive pay or reimbursements until the budget is delivered. Along with pressing the urgency of the issue in a special session this would also give the legislators an additional incentive to get a budget passed in our current regular session.

It is also important to note two things: (1) that legislators receive $30,000/year divided into 12-month increments, so that salary gets paid out when the legislature is not in session, and if Senate Bill 19 suspends their pay it will apply to their salaries for the remainder of the year; and (2) they will receive that pay eventually as "back pay" when the budget is passed so it is not a forfeiture of pay but just a suspension.

My hometown newspaper, The Coloradoan, ran an editorial today that argued that legislation should not be required to enforce accountability, I agree. Our legislators should be able to do their jobs without us essentially taking out an insurance policy on them. Unfortunately that may be where we are headed and the most responsible choice in a sea of poor choices on the part of our elected leaders.  If they do fail to complete their work in the regular session I want them to at least feel the pain of that failure.

Initially I was very supportive of this bill, but there has been an amendment to it requiring a study of the Colorado budget process that is unnecessary and a strange addition in my opinion. Because of that I do not support the entire bill and I hope to see that study taken out.

It's never a good sign when the President of the Senate is already banking on the failure of the General Assembly.