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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Ind. Law - Where does the Indiana Constitution say that?

On Feb. 23rd, 2005, the ILB posted an entry that quoted from several newspaper stories that made statements such as:

The state budget is the most important of all the matters we consider. According to the Indiana Constitution, it is the one duty we must perform as legislators.
and asked the question -- Where does the Indiana Constitution say that?

That was far from the last time this "constitutional requirement" has been invoked by the press. Here is a far from inclusive list of some other occasions. The list includes this Jan. 7th, 2007 quote from the Indianapolis Star's Mary Beth Schneider:

The session, which ends April 29, will address education, property taxes, health care and many other issues that affect every Hoosier -- their schools, their jobs and their wallets.

But only one job is a must-do, mandated by the constitution: passing a new two-year state budget.

Today Theodore Kim of the same Star has a story that a headline writer captioned "Lawmakers' primary duty of passing budget is tangled up with slots and property taxes." I thought, good, at least they've stopped saying it is mandated by the constitituon. But shortly into the story, there it is again:
Failing to pass a budget, which the state constitution requires, is the only issue that would oblige the legislature to meet beyond April.
[More] I've just received a note from Doug Masson of Masson's Blog, who also read today's Star:
You've made it less pleasant for me to read news coverage of the legislature. Once you debunked the myth of the Constitutional duty to pass a budget, every time I read someone making that assertion, it's like nails on a blackboard.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 15, 2007 09:05 AM
Posted to Indiana Law