Kern Wants Special Session Pay Cut
A proposed constitutional amendment filed by Rep. Sally Kern will force state lawmakers to take a pay cut if a special legislative session is required to complete the state budget. "Our primary job as legislators is to write a budget for the state," said Kern, R-Oklahoma City. "I thought it was ridiculous that we didn't finish the budget on time last year and things drug out for weeks until a government shutdown was a real possibility."
Because Senate Democratic leaders fought tax cuts for months, lawmakers did not finish the state budget by the end of the 2006 regular session, which adjourned in late May, and did not reconvene in a special session until the end of June. Had lawmakers not completed the budget by July 1, a government shutdown loomed.
House Joint Resolution 1001, by Kern, would allow a vote of the people to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to include penalties for lawmakers should a special session be required to complete the state budget. The amendment would require a special budget session to begin the first Monday after adjournment of the regular session and limits the session to just two weeks. Lawmakers could not recess the special session for more than two days under the proposal. Perhaps most importantly, legislative leaders (the Senate President Pro Tempore, Speaker of the House, and the minority leaders of both chambers) would forfeit one-third of their salary for the month of the special session. All other members would lose 25 percent of their income that month if a special session occurs for budget reasons.
"If we don't have a budget completed on time, it's primarily the fault of legislative leaders because they have not been working together, so they should face a financial consequence," Kern said. "At the same time, the rest of us can be faulted for not putting enough pressure on legislative leaders, so we should take a hit as well."
Because Senate Democratic leaders fought tax cuts for months, lawmakers did not finish the state budget by the end of the 2006 regular session, which adjourned in late May, and did not reconvene in a special session until the end of June. Had lawmakers not completed the budget by July 1, a government shutdown loomed.
House Joint Resolution 1001, by Kern, would allow a vote of the people to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to include penalties for lawmakers should a special session be required to complete the state budget. The amendment would require a special budget session to begin the first Monday after adjournment of the regular session and limits the session to just two weeks. Lawmakers could not recess the special session for more than two days under the proposal. Perhaps most importantly, legislative leaders (the Senate President Pro Tempore, Speaker of the House, and the minority leaders of both chambers) would forfeit one-third of their salary for the month of the special session. All other members would lose 25 percent of their income that month if a special session occurs for budget reasons.
"If we don't have a budget completed on time, it's primarily the fault of legislative leaders because they have not been working together, so they should face a financial consequence," Kern said. "At the same time, the rest of us can be faulted for not putting enough pressure on legislative leaders, so we should take a hit as well."
Labels: Special Session
posted by Mike McCarville @ 2:19 PM
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