John Baer: Fiscal office: A measure of sanity among the madness

AMONG ITEMS that our do-only-one-thing-at-a-time Legislature left behind after passing another late budget and starting a two-month-plus summer break is a bill creating an independent, nonpartisan fiscal office.

This is an effort to reduce some of the BS surrounding annual budget battles.

And although a deal is in place to move it when lawmakers return sometime in September, deals in the capital are about as firm as overcooked capellini.

Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states without a nonpartisan fiscal office.

(Ever notice that when talk turns to progressive politics, such as campaign-contribution limits or merit selection of judges, Pennsylvania is always among only a handful of states without it?)

Since our finances are annually screwed up, some independent, nonpartisan input and oversight along the lines of the respected Congressional Budget Office sure sounds like a good idea.

Alice Rivlin, the first CBO director back in '75, concurs.

"The most important thing is to have a set of budget numbers everybody can agree on, and then set policy," says Rivlin, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

She adds that such an office also should "defend nonpartisanship aggressively" and make all data public.

Why don't we have such an office? Guess.

It's because those with power and control over spending would give up some measure of both.

The governor, his budget secretary, appropriations-committee bosses and staffs would no longer have sole say on revenue numbers that shape a budget.

A fiscal office could offer analysis of spending proposals that would not as easily be dismissed by political slams from whichever party's out of power.

And there'd be expert, nonpartisan views of spending without consideration of which constituencies to reward, punish or hold hostage.

In other words, some sanity could creep into a process currently mired in madness.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County, is a lawyer and CPA who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. The bill passed the Senate last year without a single Democratic vote. That means that every Philadelphia senator voted "no."

The Democratic-controlled House didn't take it up. The excuse? Democrats don't want more bureaucracy. Really? Since when?

The cost of this new entity initially was put at $4 million. The state budget is $28 billion. Now the cost estimate is $1 million to $1.5 million because it's being folded into the existing bipartisan Legislative Budget & Finance Committee, which does financial reports on specific issues such as slots, long-term care and lottery funding.

"Costs invested for evaluations based on performance save money," Browne says.

Browne used his Finance Committee to hold up a key element in the budget (raising the state's debt ceiling by another $600 million; or, as some see it, swapping a good fiscal idea for a bad one) to get an agreement to move the bill.

The plan is for the House to amend the Senate version to put the fiscal office into the Budget & Finance Committee and vote on it.

House Republicans, says spokesman Steve Miskin, see the bill as "something we feel is worth considering."

But there's a problem. Democratic House Appropriations chairman Dwight Evans says, "I'm trying to be objective, but I don't think this entity is needed."

Since legislative leaders in both parties appoint the new office, "How is it going to be independent?" he asks. "That's one of those things where somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend is put in there."

To me, this says more about Evans' view of leaders than anything else.

Plus, CBO appointments are done in the same way. And while some say that Browne's bill "disturbs the balance of power," I say, hey, maybe that's good, given the performance of "power" in Pennsylvania lately.

Browne's optimistic that the thing can pass, now that it's cheaper and in an existing entity. I'm not so sure.

Yeah, it's a good idea and offers hope for some nonpartisanship in Harrisburg. But good ideas and nonpartisanship aren't exactly Harrisburg hallmarks.

Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.

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