During the current legislative session, legislators must close a significant remaining 2011-13 budget shortfall. When in a situation like this, it is tempting to suspend programs rather than eliminate them, in the hopes that the economy will improve in the next biennium. Indeed, legislators have deferred spending on various programs, in this biennium and previously.
Our latest policy brief looks at three examples of such deferred spending: I-728, I-732 and paid family leave. These programs have already been suspended by the legislature so that they will not be funded in 2011-13 (and, in the case of paid family leave, 2013-15).
Instead of pushing spending forward, the legislature should simply end programs that are not priorities. Otherwise, by remaining on the books, they are built into the base of future budgets.
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