ATR's relationship with GA Gov. Sonny Perdue has certainly been a tenuous one on the past. We fought with him over the hospital bed tax and won, but not after a long, protracted battle with a guy who was at the time more interested in ad hominems than balancing a budget free of tax hikes.

Sonny now has an opportunity to sign a serious budget reform into law, injecting transparency, efficiency, and accountability into the appropriations process. On May 4, the legislature sent Senate Bill 1, the Zero-Base Budgeting Act, to the governor's desk. The bill would mandate that up to one-third of all state agencies in a given budget year justify all expenditures from dollar one to appropriators. Rather than the status quo, where agencies must only justify increases in their budget, it puts all agency spending priorities under the microscope.

Between one-fourth and one-third of all state agencies would be subject to zero-base rules in a given year, and no agency would be subject to the rules more than once every four years. In a year in which an agency is subject to scrutiny, the governor's budget proposal will include the following analysis:

• A summary of the budget unit's purpose and effectiveness
• A minimum of three alternative funding levels and revenue sources
• Prioritization of spending programs within the budget unit

Unfortunately, there are rumors that Gov. Perdue will veto this bill. While we aren't surprised at his knee-jerk thumbs down to a sound piece of legislation, here's to hoping that the governor gets it right at least once before leaving office. Another opportunity would be Tom Graves' JOBS Act.

To see ATR's letter to Gov. Perdue, see below.

June 7, 2010

Dear Gov. Perdue:

On May 4, the legislature sent Senate Bill 1, the Zero-Base Budgeting Act. The bill subjects up to one-third of state programs passed in the most recent General Appropriations Act to zero-based budgeting rules, mandating that state agencies justify every dollar of their budgets to appropriators. In the midst of such dire economic circumstances, it is imperative that state government reform the way it funds state agencies. I urge you to sign SB 1 into law.

The Zero-Base Budgeting Act calls for the governor’s budget to include zero-base budgeting for between one-fourth and one-third of all state programs in a given year. No program will be subjected to zero-base budgeting more than once every four years. In the years in which an agency is subject to the rule, the governor’s budget will include the following analysis:

• A summary of the budget unit’s purposes and effectiveness.
• A minimum of three alternative funding levels and revenue sources.
• Prioritization of spending programs within the budget unit

In asking state agencies to justify their budgets from the first dollar spent, zero-base budgeting injects transparency and accountability into the budgeting process. Rather than simply rolling over spending levels from the previous state budget and asking agencies only to explain increases in their funding level, this mechanism helps ensure that the legislature is not wasting taxpayer dollars on duplicative, inefficient programs.

Much of this year’s budget hole could have been avoided had state agencies been forced to submit a detailed report on every dollar of their budgets. During this economic downturn, taxpayers are rightly asking tough questions about the specifics of how government spends their money. There is little appetite for a business-as-usual approach to budgeting; government should carefully account for its spending priorities just as Georgia families are forced to.

I urge you to sign SB 1, a commonsense reform that will foster a culture of scrutiny in Atlanta and help avoid wasteful and unnecessary government spending. ATR is happy to work to allay any concerns you have with this bill. Please contact me or ATR state affairs manager Joshua Culling at 202-785-0266 if you have any questions.

Onward,

Grover Norquist

Posted by Joshua Culling on Monday, June 7, 2010 12:54 PM EDT

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