Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s recent insistence on biennial rather than annual budgeting is unreasonable. The advantage of biennial budgeting is that it requires planning further ahead. Since there is nothing about annual budgeting that prevents planning ahead, however, this single advantage is hardly a persuasive reason to switch to biennial budgeting. The disadvantages are several. It is less flexible, it is less responsive to changing circumstances and it concentrates power in the hands of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch of government.
Of course the concentration of power factor is attractive to Branstad. It is convenient for him to overlook that what is important to him is also important to the legislature and to the people of Iowa, both of whom are better served by clear separation of power and the greater flexibility and responsiveness of annual budgeting.
The legislature should override his veto and adopt the budget they have carefully crafted by working through the compromises that were necessary to make it acceptable to a majority of the legislators of both parties. Let us hope that our legislators will have the fortitude to keep Branstad from bullying them.
