EDITOR'S NOTE: This editorial was posted on Jan. 7.
Traditionally, in a budget year like this one, the governor holds a budget address laying out his priorities for the state’s budget, then submits his budget to the General Assembly. Legislators may adopt some of it, or none of it, or throw it in the trash, as they wish, and then proceed to write and adopt a budget of their own, including whatever parts of the governor’s budget they want to.
That is the way it has been done for decades and decades. The governor, as head of state, gets first crack at the budget process.
But today, in a move of one-upmanship, the Republican budget committee in the House dropped their own budget, days ahead of the governor’s budget address, accompanied by a press release laying out all the details of their already-written budget.