Say Anything Blog

Governor John Hoeven says he’s “happy” with the legislative session.  Those of us footing the bill for what the legislature just did shouldn’t be.

On the Scott Hennen Show today at 9:10am Scott will be interviewing House Majority Leader Al Carlson about the just-passed state budget.  I think Carlson should have to answer some questions about the figures below.  Listen live here, and call in at 888-598-8464.

Courtesy of the North Dakota Taxpayer’s Association, here are some graphs depicting the state budget just passed by our legislators in Bismarck.

First up, general fund spending 1999 to present:

Those familiar of what “exponential growth” looks like when plotted on a graph may see something familiar.  For the record, “exponential growth” in government spending is unsustainable.

In numbers, what you’re looking at is a 23% increase in general fund spending from the 2005 - 2007 to the 2007 - 2009 biennium and a 32% increase in spending from the 2007 - 2009 to the 2009 - 2011 biennium.

Since 2005, that’s a 62% increase in general fund spending.

That’s bad, but when you zoom the graph out a bit it looks worse:

And finally, here’s an indicator of just how badly the legislature performed this session.  Typically the legislature can be counted on to trim down the Governor’s budget this year.  That assumption even led legislators to suggest that they be given more control over the Governor’s budget (something Hoeven is going to veto).  But this session, the legislature spent every single dollar the Governor wanted to…and more:

My reaction to this?  We need to elect better political leaders.