Though we have serious concerns about the impact of the House Democrat's $1.3 billion tax increase proposal on the state's economy and jobs (nearly 10,000 private sector jobs could be lost), at least the public will actually have a chance to weigh in on the proposal.
When title only bills started to drop on March 18, I was concerned that we could be in for a redux of 2010 when the massive "temporary" tax increase package appeared and was approved on the last day of the special session. As noted by Spokesman Review reporter Jim Camden in his April 18, 2010 blog post:
The public was a loser, at least the public that wanted to weigh in on the final tax package that appeared on the last day of the special session. After spending much of the previous 28 days in backroom discussions about what mix of tax hikes was acceptable to a bare minimum in the House and Senate, Democratic tax leaders rather imperiously released a take-it-or-leave-it plan in a 'conference' committee and insisted there was really no need to hold public hearings because everything had been discussed in one form or another at some point. No real reason to wait a full day before voting; not like anyone really needs to read it, let alone study it line by line.
The Legislature is so much more open than it was in the bad old days, they insisted, when things really were done in secret. (Apparently in the old days a person needed to have a secret decoder ring to decipher the package and say the secret word before voting – that’s about the only way this year’s budget could have been more secret.)
With that as the contrast, a silver lining to the fact the House Finance Committee is holding a public hearing at 8 a.m. tomorrow on a billion dollar omnibus tax increase proposal is the fact a real public hearing is actually being held on a complete bill - not a title only bill with no text - and the public is being provided an opportunity to be heard.
