Governor-elect Terry Branstad plans to submit a two-year budget for the legislature to consider, rather than the one-year spending plan that’s become the norm in recent years. During his campaign, Branstad promised a longer-range spending plan which he says will make state spending more stable.
Dave Roederer, who will serve as the governor-elect’s top budget aide, says Branstad sometimes submitted two year budgets during his previous terms in office. “And then they would make whatever adjustments needed to be made in the second year of the biennium,” Roederer explained. “We believe by doing that you’ll get a better look at what the implications are for programs passed in one year.”
But Roederer admits Democratic-controlled legislatures that worked with Branstad in the past typically did not go along with a two-year budget. “When Republicans were in control, they would do two, and when Democrats were in control they did one,” Roederer said. The appropriations chair in the still Democrat-controlled Senate predicts the Senate will pass only a one-year budget as they have in recent years.
Robert Dvorsky claims Branstad’s approach gives too much authority to the executive branch and limits flexibility in a changing economy.