Jim Geringer on Budget & Economy Former Republican WY Governor

Spend one-time revenue on one-time expenditures

We must be responsible in how we deal with the forecast surplus. Use one-time funds [such as mineral revenue] to cover unique or non-recurring obligations. I ask your support to do the following:
• Determine how much of the surplus is sustainable beyond the next two biennia. I estimate that long-term sustainable revenues will support about $198M per biennium of new spending.
• Set aside reasonable and prudent reserves [including] $72M for a statutory reserve (5% of estimated general fund receipts) and $50M to expand the Spending Policy Reserve to include mineral income.
• A partial restoration of funds lost by the Water Development: allocate $75M of the one-time funds.
• $65M for endowment funds for the University and our Community Colleges.
• Spend one-time revenue on one-time expenditures. Don’t fund on-going obligations without the assurance of future revenue.
• I recommend reducing statewide sales and use taxes by a half percent, effective during FY2001 only.

Bankruptcy reform: limit Chapter 7; protect states' role.

The Governors are particularly concerned that bankruptcy reform legislation address the following issues:
1. Prevent Chapter 7 Use by Those with the Ability to Pay: Present bankruptcy law does not prevent use of Chapter 7 by those with ability to repay, nor does it require that debtors use Chapter 13, which would require them to repay creditors what the debtor can afford. The Governors strongly support federal efforts to prevent debtors from using Chapter 7 when they are financially able to pay some or all of their unsecured debts.
2. Encourage Payment of Domestic Support Obligations: Bankruptcy interferes significantly with states’ ability to assist citizens owed domestic support and to collect unpaid domestic support owed them. The Governors strongly encourage Congress to ensure that any federal bankruptcy reform requires that domestic support obligations have the highest possible repayment priority, that all domestic support obligations be nondischargeable, and that commencement of bankruptcy not prevent the continued collection of child and other support obligations.
3. Give State Claims Parity with Federal Claims in Bankruptcy: Today, bankruptcy rightly gives certain preferences in payment to federal claims against the bankruptcy estate, but similar treatment is not always accorded state claims. The Governors strongly support congressional efforts to reform the treatment of state claims in bankruptcy to provide parity of treatment with federal claims.
4. Protect the State Role: The Governors oppose efforts to preempt state authority to determine exemptions under state bankruptcy law. Currently, debtors have a right to choose between federal and state exemptions. The Governors support efforts to shape bankruptcy reform policy that protects the rights of states to determine their own standards instead of having uniform federal regulations imposed without regard for individual state needs.

Uphold commitments to states before other spending.

The Issue

NGA’s Position

Maintain & enforce existing spending caps in the future.

What we offer today are not the precise spending decisions of a given year's budget; rather, we call upon the Congress and the nation to adopt the following guidelines for our fiscal policy over the next decade. This long-term blueprint is essential for maintaining both the immediate public-sector goal of balancing the budget and the private-sector goal of a healthy economy. This can be achieved through the following steps:

• A commitment to maintaining and enforcing existing spending caps in the future, when such discipline becomes more difficult to achieve;
• A careful and considerate re-definition of the federal role in society (what should be the legitimate and proper role of the federal government in the twenty-first century, and how do we prioritize competing demands?); and
• An evaluation of implementing tax cuts based on their social fairness.