With all the bad news, I guess I should report on some good news. The Assembly passed the Earmark Transparency Act (AB 739) late last night on a voice vote. If it makes it thorugh the Senate and past Jim Doyle’s veto pen, it would:
- Prohibit state agencies from requesting earmarks when making their budget requests to the Department of Administration.
- Require the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to prepare an “Earmark Transparency Report”, including cost, location, beneficiary and sponsoring representative/senator, to be released to the public at least 48 hours before any action on a budget bill is taken by the Joint Finance Committee, the Assembly or the Senate.
- Prohibit a conference committee from “airdropping” earmarks or other non-fiscal policy items into the budget that were not previously part of an approved version of the budget.
Do note that this passed through the Assembly on a voice vote. That usually doesn’t happen with a controversial bill, so the ball is squarely in the Senate’s court.
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Funny funny man….
If it makes it thorugh the Senate and past Jim Doyle’s veto pen
Like that is going to happen.
That’s why I pointed out that it was so popular, it passed on a voice vote.