Key Players Control Budget Process

But it was not until two months later -- Aug. 30 -- that the House passed a $391 million tax package to fill the fiscal hole. In between, there were few committee meetings, few debates on the legislative floor and no official vote on a tax package.

But that didn't mean the legislators had taken time off. Instead, leaders from both chambers were working behind closed doors to hash out a compromise that could end the budget stalemate -- a process that many lawmakers see as a necessary evil in constructing a state budget.

While some lawmakers, especially on the Republican side, have argued that the process has excluded many legislators and that Democratic leaders have closed their doors to other solutions in filling the fiscal hole, others say the budget process would become even more difficult if everything occurred in the public eye.

"Closed meetings are necessary to the budget process because there are things that we need to talk very frankly and openly about," said Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"If all that we talk about got out prematurely -- and some of it has -- then it would prevent legislators from having frank discussions about the state budget," Lee said.

Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC's program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, said the legislative process is always a combination of private meetings and open public debate.

"There's nothing to prevent human beings from getting together to talk about things," Guillory said. "But legislators who want to raise certain points always have that opportunity."

Guillory added that the sheer size of the appropriations committees in both chambers makes it difficult for everyone to be involved in the budget process.

Of the Senate's 50 members, 43 of them sit on Appropriations/Base Budget committee. The situation is similar in the House, where the majority of members sit on one of the appropriations subcommittees.

"Every legislator would like to be the one writing the budget," said Rep. Cary Allred, R-Orange, who sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Capital. "But the budget is designed by a committee system, and in any committee system someone has to take charge."

Sen. Albin Swindell, D-Edgecombe, a first-term legislator and a member of the appropriations committee said that while the budget process is sometimes closed, legislators always have an opportunity to express their opinions.

"(Senate President Pro Tem) Marc Basnight has said many times this session that if you have any ideas, e-mail me, write me, get in touch with me any way you can," Swindell said.

But disobeying the plans of party leadership can often be problematic for lawmakers. Basnight and House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, are responsible for assigning legislative committees and numerous other positions.

"There are certainly all kinds of pressures on legislators to follow their party leadership," Guillory said. "But at the same time, a representative assembly can't function without leadership decisions. It would spin out of control."

He added that the bicameral nature of the state legislature often required legislative leaders from the two chambers to get together in order to ensure that they are on the same page on important pieces of legislation.

"If the house speaker and the president pro tempore never got together to talk about legislation, then nothing would ever get accomplished."

But Guillory added that it is important to legislative leaders that they are members of a democratic institution.

"Sooner or later, leaders have to be leaders," Guillory said. "But it is incumbent on leaders in a democracy to allow for a lot of participation and debate."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.