Missourinet

So many of us have heard about the Hancock Amendment regarding state spending.  Over the next three days Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy takes a look at the Hancock Amendment, its origin, and its impact.  Enjoy!

Steve

Would Missouri and its citizens be better-served in these tough economic times without the Hancock Amendment?

Some perspective that does not claim to provide an answer might be helpful as hundreds of state employees sadly clean out their desks and head into an uncertainty that tens of thousands of other Missourians are living with. At the same time, thousands of Missourians are seeing services reduced, government response times increased, and the government facilities where they live, work, or are treated will go another year without needed maintenance.

This perspective comes from long years of watching the process of state government and the people who have been elected to state legislative and executive offices. Join us on this meander toward an undefined destination that we hope will leave you to decide where we are and where we need to go.

The Power of the Press often carries with it the Power of Pontification, which is best when used sparingly. That is why we seldom contribute to this blog in an era when pontification stuffs our airwaves and the blogosphere with too many people so pleased with their self-importance they could almost pop.

Unlike many of them, we do not lay any claim to having all truth in our personal corral. But from time to time we think we have tucked away enough experience to provide a perspective (note we did not say "the" perspective) that might help others understand or at least think about events and situations.

So it is with the latest round of budget cuts which will ruin the lives of some people and devastate some programs and institutions.

Governor Nixon says about 1700 jobs have been cut since the start of the calendar year because of his cuts and withholdings. Almost 200 more jobs are being eliminated or going unfilled in parks and conservation.

Programs and property maintenance have been chopped by $634 million since the legislature approved the budget.

It's easy to blame the economy and the drop in tax revenue for all of this misfortune that is most easily expressed through numbers but most personally felt by real people.

But it's more than the economy. Part of this problem exists because those we elect to make policies and laws find themselves living in a short-term world that often obscures understanding of  long-term consequences.

The influence of the Hancock Amendment cannot be overlooked in considering that political climate. Much has changed in the three decades since its passage. But there is no doubt that it continues to have an impact on state government operations and that it shaped political decisions that have contributed to today's state budget problems.

We will leave it to others to argue whether the Hancock Amendment has been a benefit in the past and will be a benefit in the future. But we can connect some dots between the amendment, some decisions made because of it, and today's state financial problems. In doing so we seek to offer perspective, not blame. Blame is easily assigned in a black-and-white environment. But the world of  those who deal most intimately with the Hancock Amendment's effects is multi-colored and the view ahead is often foggy.

Because blogs are intended to be brief - blog experts say blog readers have short attention spans that leave them less likely to read James Joyce's ULYSSES but more likely to seek something longer that today's "twits" - we leave you at this verbal campsite and hope you will re-join us on this meander tomorrow.

-Bob Priddy, News Director, The Missourinet