The good news is that there is a decent chance the state Legislature will do something it hasn't done for quite some time: Complete a budget on time.
If lawmakers can agree on a budget and have it signed by Gov. Jim Doyle by the start of the new fiscal year July 1, the state would avoid losing millions of dollars in federal money. The 2007-09 biennial budget wasn't passed until the fall of 2007, and previous sessions also have been prolonged. So it's good news that there is the potential for an on-time budget - though not unexpected, as Democrats have control of both the Assembly and the Senate this time, as well as the governor's mansion. The Democrats' only real battles have been internal.
The bad news is that most of the budget negotiations and discussions thus far have been conducted in private meetings. Legislative party leaders have reached agreements on controversial budget provisions in closed-door sessions, before bringing them into public session. The Assembly debate and vote on June 12 was an unwelcome example of how this process has worked.
The Democratic leaders crafted their budget plan in private. When it was brought to the Assembly floor late on the Friday night, Republicans argued, offered amendments, and were denied. Republicans did most of the talking and debating. Democrats didn't need to. They'd made their decisions out of the public spotlight, and had the votes to pass them.
Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, called it an "ugly process," and it was.
Now, with the Assembly and Senate having passed slightly different budgets, the two houses must reconcile the differences into a final budget. Heading into the weekend, there were signs the secretive negotiations would continue.
There was a delay in the creation of a public conference committee of legislative leaders to work out a budget deal. That left the door open for more closed-door meetings to hammer out the differences.
The Senate and Assembly next will meet in public session Tuesday. That's the earliest a conference committee could be established. Hopefully, that's what happens, and real debates and negotiating occurs in open sessions.
But if lawmakers return today or Tuesday and say that agreements have been reached during "informal" discussions over the weekend, it will cement a budget arrived almost exclusively out of the public's view. That's no way to do the public's business.
The next few hours will be very telling in determining whether legislative leaders - specifically the majority Democrats - have even the slightest interest in doing the public's bidding out in the open.
If lawmakers can agree on a budget and have it signed by Gov. Jim Doyle by the start of the new fiscal year July 1, the state would avoid losing millions of dollars in federal money. The 2007-09 biennial budget wasn't passed until the fall of 2007, and previous sessions also have been prolonged. So it's good news that there is the potential for an on-time budget - though not unexpected, as Democrats have control of both the Assembly and the Senate this time, as well as the governor's mansion. The Democrats' only real battles have been internal.
The bad news is that most of the budget negotiations and discussions thus far have been conducted in private meetings. Legislative party leaders have reached agreements on controversial budget provisions in closed-door sessions, before bringing them into public session. The Assembly debate and vote on June 12 was an unwelcome example of how this process has worked.
The Democratic leaders crafted their budget plan in private. When it was brought to the Assembly floor late on the Friday night, Republicans argued, offered amendments, and were denied. Republicans did most of the talking and debating. Democrats didn't need to. They'd made their decisions out of the public spotlight, and had the votes to pass them.
Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, called it an "ugly process," and it was.
Now, with the Assembly and Senate having passed slightly different budgets, the two houses must reconcile the differences into a final budget. Heading into the weekend, there were signs the secretive negotiations would continue.
There was a delay in the creation of a public conference committee of legislative leaders to work out a budget deal. That left the door open for more closed-door meetings to hammer out the differences.
The Senate and Assembly next will meet in public session Tuesday. That's the earliest a conference committee could be established. Hopefully, that's what happens, and real debates and negotiating occurs in open sessions.
But if lawmakers return today or Tuesday and say that agreements have been reached during "informal" discussions over the weekend, it will cement a budget arrived almost exclusively out of the public's view. That's no way to do the public's business.
The next few hours will be very telling in determining whether legislative leaders - specifically the majority Democrats - have even the slightest interest in doing the public's bidding out in the open.
