Could We Have Competing Balanced Budgets?

It’s never happened before.

In a typical session, leaders of the Joint Budget Committee steer the massive, comprehensive Revenue Stabilization Act – the state’s balanced budget proposal – through both chambers of the legislature.

But this isn’t a typical session.

Joint Budget Co-chair Rep. Kathy Webb (D-Little Rock) filed HB 1818, currently a shell bill, but ultimately the measure that will be filled with the guts for a balanced budget. Revenue Stabilization is largely put together in the last days of the session as members wind down their business and settle on final appropriations.

This year, Rep. Andrea Lea (R-Russellville) has filed a shell bill, HB 1951, which could serve as an alternative measure to the Joint Budget co-chair’s bill.

Lea said in her first term, she disagreed with a couple of appropriations bills that were built into the Revenue Stabilization Act, also known as RSA.

"Each of those appropriation bills build a house, and then when the house was done by Revenue Stabilization all I had was one big fat bill that I could either vote up or down at that point," said the second-term legislator.

"I wanted to have something in the back-up in case I can’t agree with the direction that the Revenue Stabilization Act goes. I would at least have something I could vote ‘yes’ to," Lea added.

Competing Revenue Stabilization bills have never been filed, according to research on the issue. So this session could set a precedent and make history.

"It is the first time this has ever happened," Webb tells Talk Business. "I haven’t had an opportunity to discuss it with her (Lea). Obviously, a member has a prerogative to file a bill as he or she chooses, so we’ll see what happens."

Lea outlines a couple of scenarios for what she may do. She could cobble together a slightly different proposal that would only have minor changes to the traditional RSA. Lea doesn’t think her bill will be amended to include a radical departure from RSA, she says, although her alternative could encompass larger spending cuts than those approved by the Joint Budget Committee.

Or, she could file last session’s RSA – a move that would signal a "hold-the-line" mentality on any spending increases.

"Do I see that as a possibility?" asks Lea. "I wouldn’t rule that possibility out."

While separate appropriations bills need supermajority votes (75%) to pass, the Revenue Stabilization Act only needs a simple majority of votes to clear passage. With 45 Republicans in the House and 15 GOP members in the Senate, passage of a Revenue Stabilization bill on the first go-round could be a precarious scenario.