Perceptions of the Impact of Governors and Legislatures in the State Appropriations Process

• Author: Glenn Abney,Thomas P. Lauth
• Published date: 01 June 1987
• Date: 01 June 1987
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591298704000211
• Subject Matter: Articles

PERCEPTIONS

OF

THE

IMPACT

OF

GOVERNORS

AND

LEGISLATURES

IN

THE

STATE

APPROPRIATIONS

PROCESS

GLENN

ABNEY,

Georgia

State

University

and

THOMAS

P.

LAUTH,

University

of Georgia

N

the

state

budgeting

literature,

governors

are

portrayed

as

dominat-

t

ing

the

appropriations

process

while

legislatures

are

characterized

as

less

influential

(Anton

1966:

34-5;

Sharkansky

1968:

1231;

and

Howard

1973:

318).

The

introduction

of

the

executive

budget

early

in

this

century

gave

most

governors

the

capacity

to

direct

and

control

state

financial

mat-

ters

(Schick

1971:

18).

Although

governors

still

dominate

the

appropria-

tions

process

in

many

states,

Rosenthal

(1981:

206)

believes

that

legislatures

come

to

their

budgetary

tasks

far

better

prepared

now.

This

article

provides

a

contemporary

analysis

of

the

impact

of

legisla-

tures

and

governors

in

state

appropriation

decisions

from

the

perspectives

of

two

sets

of

administrators

who

work

in

close

proximity

to

elected

offi-

cials

and

the

appropriations

process.

Appropriations

are

the

most

impor-

tant

policy

enactments

of

state

legislatures,

and

the

state

budget

is

usually

the

matter

of

greatest

concern

in

any

legislative

session.~

Yet,

the

state

ap-

propriations

process

has

rarely

been

studied

in

a

comparative

and

systematic

way

(Sharkansky

1968).

Using

data

from

a

1982

survey,

this

article

ad-

dresses

the

following

questions:

What

factors

affect

the

ability

of

the

legis-

lature

to

contend

with

the

influence

of

the

governor

in

the

appropriations

process,

and

what

difference

does

it

make

to

have

the

governor

or

the

legis-

lature

as

the

dominant

branch

in

appropriations?

Our

data

derive

from

a

mail

survey2

of

executive

budget

officers

and

legislative

fiscal

officers.3

Responses

were

received

from

forty-eight

of

the

Received:

September

13,

1985

1 st

Revision

Received:

March

25,

1986

2nd

Revision

Received:

April

16,

1986

Accepted

for

Publication:

April

23,

1986

1

In

this

connection

it

is

interesting

to

note

the

1984

amendment

to

the

Alabama

Constitu-

tion

which

provides

that

no

bill

may

be

passed

until

bills

making

the

basic

appropria-

tions

for

the

ensuing

budget

period

have

been

signed

by

the

presiding

officer

of

each

house

of

the

legislature

and

presented

to

the

governor.

Amendment

No.

448,

Constitu-

tion

of

State

of

Alabama.

2

We

wish

to

thank

H.

Sydney

Duncombe

(former

Budget

Director

of

the

States

of

Idaho

and

Ohio)

and

Andrew

B.

Fogarty

(former

Assistant

Secretary

of

Administration

and

Finance,

Commonwealth

of

Virginia,

and

former

Staff

Director

of

the

Virginia

House

Appropriations

Committee)

for

reviewing

and

suggesting

improvements

in

early

drafts

of

our

survey

instrument.

3

Respondents

were

identified

from

State Administrative

Officials,

1981-82,

Supplement

3,

1981,

(Lexington,

Kentucky:

Council

of

State

Governments),

and

State

Legislative

Leadership,

Committees

and

Staff,

1981-82,

Supplement

2,

1981

(Lexington,

Kentucky:

Council

of

State

Government).