Lawmakers would pass budget early under bill

Legislators could be required to consider a budget bill the first week of every session.

A resolution that would require lawmakers use the base budget process, which legislators began using last year, every year passed the House unanimously Monday. With HJR3, the Legislature would have until the tenth day of the session to pass the base budget bills for state agencies and public education.

Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, the sponsor of the bill, said that because HJR3 would also require that the base budget bills be available at the first of the session and could be amended later in the session with supplemental appropriations, legislators and the general public would have more opportunity to be involved in the budgets.

"This will increase public scrutiny of what we do," he said. "These bills will be available for a much longer period of time, and it gives everyone the chance to analyze them much more deeply."