OCR Text |
Show Annual Legislative Sessions Vary In Success. Report Finds Out ed, however, that "We will have the same Legislature for two successive budgets, so we .nay be able to get things done on the basis of first-year ex-: ex-: pcrience." The Foundation report reviewed re-viewed h'gM;ghts of the year JOS, including a number of developiiie.ua winch had been treated in considerable detail de-tail in rsearch reports issued at various times during the year. It was noted that deficits appeared to be developing in the state's major funds; that th. cost of living continues its seady rise (the index reaching 122.9 on a 1957-59 base on October Oc-tober 1); and that education continues to be the No. 1 area of state expenditure, by a wide margin, followed by highway operations and public pub-lic welfare. States operating under a system of annual legislative .jssions, with alternate sessions ses-sions reserved for budgetary and fiscal considerations only--the pattern adopted in Utah by' constitutional amendment approved last November are sharply divided on the merits of the program, it was reported report-ed by Utah Foundation in a report issued this week- A total of 21 state legislatures legisla-tures were meeting annually, as of 1968, but only five of these restricted alternate sessions ses-sions to fiscal matters more, or less on the pattern adopted adopt-ed by Utah, it was reported , by the Foundation, a private, nonprofit, public service a-gency. a-gency. Colorado and West Virginia Vir-ginia reported definite improvement im-provement in government operations, op-erations, especially fiscal controls, con-trols, under this system, while New Mexico, Louisiana, and Hawaii noted varying degrees of dissatisfaction. The electorate elector-ate in Hawaii approved a constitutional con-stitutional change in November Novem-ber which returns the state to : biennial budgeting, although j retaining annual legislative sessions. Utah's first 'budget session," ses-sion," of 20 days duration (compared to the 60-day gen eral s-essions in odd-numbered years), will not convene unti' January, 1970, but the 1969 session will be Utah's firs' legislative assembly to consider con-sider an annual rather than a biennial budget. The Foundation report noted that, while the 1968 constitutional constitu-tional change authorized annual an-nual sessions, Utah statutory law requiring the Governor to submit a two-year budget had not been amended. "Observers see no real problem pro-blem in this situtation, as it should be norih' to introduce nd pass corrective legislation in the early days of the 1969 ' session, if it is deemed necessary, nec-essary, before the statutory deadline for submission of the budget on the tenth day," the Foundation reported. Utah budget officials forsee both problems and advantages in the new system, according to the Foundation study. The state's budget officer expressed express-ed concern "lest the shift to annual budgets keep him and his staff busy with budget preparation pre-paration to the point where they cannot give attention to -ther essential duties including includ-ing budget administration and analysis of management problems." pro-blems." The same official not- |