Iowans deserve a plan and explanation

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Some big steps legislators made toward closing their wide divide over the state budget are being overshadowed by a lack of specifics about what happens should there be no agreement before July 1.

Gov. Terry Branstad, responding to freedom of information requests from this newspaper and other organizations, including the state's largest public employee union, said there is no contingency plan or documents related to such a plan. On Tuesday, he said not to worry, because a budget deal will be reached in time and there won't be a shutdown of vital state services.

Even if it does happen, “the governor has broad executive powers in situations such as this and if the Legislature fails to hold up to their responsibility and fails to pass a budget by June 30, then the governor will have the responsibility of keeping government open on July 1 and he intends to do so using those broad emergency powers,” Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said last week.

Trouble is, Iowa has never entered a new fiscal year without a budget plan in place. What's more, state law puts restrictions on how much tinkering the governor can do with the budget (such as limited transfers when the General Assembly is not in session). And the Iowa Constitution is vague on just how much authority the governor would have and could use in such a situation.

We expect that a budget deal, or at least a temporary extension of the current budget while debate continues, before July 1 is still likely - especially after Democrats last week agreed to keep total spending under $6 billion and gave up on a 2 percent increase for K-12 school funding growth.

Those changes are major concessions to the governor and the Republican-controlled House and should pave the way toward a final compromise on the entire budget plan.

But there's no guarantee that a deal will be struck before time runs out. And it's unacceptable for the governor's office to not have a contingency plan. A plan that Branstad or his legal counsel, Brenna Findley, should have outlined for Iowans by now, explaining specifically what the governor can do and plans to do.

Instead, on Tuesday, Branstad told reporters at his weekly news conference that “I'm not going to get into all the details of it. I just want to assure the people of Iowa that I know what I'm doing.”

But if there are details, implying there is a plan, Iowans deserve to hear more about it. They need to be able to prepare for any fallout. This expectation is clearly in line with the transparency every governor owes the public and that Branstad promised during the election campaign.

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