Huntsman challenged

GOP legislative leaders are quietly proposing a major change in the fiscal balance of power in Utah state government — one that could considerably reduce the governor's influence in setting budgets.

"Without a doubt, this reduces the executive's power," said House Minority Leader Ralph Becker.

"It's speculative to say the governor will veto" House Speaker Greg Curtis' HB97, Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said Tuesday afternoon. "But (the bill) is bad policy."

HB97 was released Monday in the final batch of bills to be considered in the 2005 Legislature. At first reading, it may sound inconsequential: Should any of the major "comprehensive" budget bills fail to pass in a given general session or be vetoed by the governor, the current year's budget in that particular area just continues through the next fiscal year.

In Congress, these are called continuing resolutions and are routinely used when congressmen and the president can't decide on a certain funding package for one of the 13-or-so huge appropriation bills that appropriate funds to the federal government.

But such a scheme has never been used in Utah, where the Legislature has basically only three main budget bills. Lawmakers and the governor routinely haggle over and adopt a balanced budget.

Curtis said he doesn't see HB97 as a legislative power grab. Rather, he said, it's an attempt "to bring balance to a situation where a governor may say: 'Pass my budget recommendation or I'll veto it and we'll have no budget at all.' "

This year HB97 could mean that Huntsman doesn't have the normal veto threat, and may not be able to bend lawmakers his budget priorities, one of which is spending less money on transportation and more on raises for state workers and other state programs.

"We didn't get a heads-up on this one," said Jason Chaffetz, Huntsman's chief of staff, when originally asked about HB97.

Later Tuesday, Huntsman issued a statement: "By circumventing the usual legislative process, this bill attempts to jeopardize the constitutionally mandated balance of power between the Legislature and the governor."

Becker, D-Salt Lake, also questions HB97's constitutionality.

But it appears the bill was carefully drafted. It doesn't take the veto power away from the governor. It just makes a veto irrelevant if most legislators are willing to spend the same amount of money on part or all of the budget from one fiscal year to the next.