Sen. Girod: Spending Limits prevent budget blowouts

State Senator Fred Girod: Spending limit bill would limit the growth of state government
By Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation

State Senator Fred Girod has sponsored a spending limit bill (SB 866) that would limit the growth of government. SB 866 would limit appropriations for general governmental purposes to the lesser of the percentage increase in projected (1) personal income, (2) population growth plus inflation, or (3) gross domestic product.

“This is what some of the states are using to control growth,” said Senator Girod. “By having a defined growth, when we have a down session we could also build up our reserve funds. We just have a really bad tendency to spend all the money that we get. This would put some curbs on how fast we could expand.”

Girod commented that his bill won’t even get a hearing in the liberal Democrat Senate. Girod believes that the Senate isn’t likely to limit spending until more fiscal conservatives are elected to office and ideology changes. “There are some people who think that government’s the cure for everything, and there are some of us that think government’s the cause of many of our woes. I believe that we need to contain the size of government,” said Girod.

Opponents of spending limits state that current spending levels are below what state agencies are asking for and that a spending limit would make it harder to reach desired spending goals.

Read SB 866 “State Spending Limit” bill here.