Indiana

Return to Sender

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I will freely admit to not spending as much time at the Legislature during this special session as I thought I would have.  I’ve still managed to keep tabs on everything via watching lawmakers on the Internet, a few phone calls and some text messaging.  And surprisingly enough, even though I’m not there, I have come to the conclusion I have not missed a thing.

Republicans want a 2-year budget, Democrats want one year.  Republicans want a school funding formula that follows the student, Democrats want money to go to school districts.  And don’t even get me started on the CIB.

Regardless, if lawmakers don’t pass a budget by the end of the month, then each one should write the taxpayers a check for how much they’ve been paid for the past six months.   The only thing lawmakers have to do when they convene is pass a budget. That’s it.  All the other stuff is extra.  So if they don’t pass a budget by June 30, they haven’t done their job.  And if you or I don;t do our jobs, we don’t get paid.  Why should lawmakers be any different?

The average salary in the legislature is about $44,000 in salary, mileage, and other benefits.  So if there is no budget by next Tuesday, somebody needs to write the taxpayers a check for six months worth of work that didn’t get done.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).