Moving right along, for now

It only took eight minutes for a Senate committee to discuss and approve the one-month budget that’s expected to prevent the state from shutting down in July. No one on the committee voted against the stopgap measure. The full Senate is expected to approve it Friday.

Although a 12-month budget is far from a done deal, Sen. Christine Radogno, a GOP budget negotiator, said she felt encouraged by the one-month budget because 1) it fully funds pension payments at the statutory level, 2) it fully funds state debt service, 3) it’s void of “pork barrel” funding for legislators’ pet projects and 4) it holds the line on spending. She says those four things prove “we can live within our means even if it’s one month at a time.”

Let’s hope it won’t take a month at a time to keep the state in business, but one ominous sign is that the Senate extended all deadlines for the passage of bills until December 31. Sheesh. That’s extremely cautious and totally unnecessary, right? Right?!