Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993 TAG: 9309030354
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Several state legislatures have passed laws summoning their congressional delegations to state capitols to explain - and it better be good, pal - why the federal government keeps imposing unfunded federal mandates upon the money-short states.
The state lawmakers complain, not without justification, that federal regulations and programs are busting state budgets and unfairly driving the states' own spending priorities.
These ``mandate consultation'' acts, now passed by about 15 states (Virginia hasn't joined the pack ... yet), can't force members of Congress to show up for a showdown, of course.
``It won't change anything, obviously, but it definitely will increase public awareness of one of the biggest causes of budgetary distress'' facing state governments, says John E. Berthoud, director of tax and fiscal policy for a Washington-based states' advocacy group.
Meanwhile, to nobody's surprise, the National Conference of Mayors recently pleaded with the feds to quit imposing unfunded mandates on the cities. It also would help, said hiz' n' her honors, if the states would stop passing laws that require local governments to spend the local governments' money.
It's an old game, this shift and shaft, but it really began to get out of hand during the '80s.
As for the '90s, the conservative Heritage Foundation estimates that state and local governments will spend more than $200 billion - simply to comply with current federal wastewater mandates. The cost will be so high for some cities, says the foundation, they'll have to reduce spending on such essential services as police and fire protection.
Others estimate that one-third of some states' revenue growth will be consumed by the cost of federal Medicaid mandates - and that the Medicaid mandates themselves will grow at a rate of about 49 percent through 1995.
``Unfunded mandates are an insidious way for governments at one level to pass onto governments at a lower level responsibility for the funding of programs,'' says Berthoud.
Insidious, maybe, but a reality check also seems in order. State lawmakers complain that the federal government is forcing them to spend their money. Mayors complain that the federal and state governments are forcing them to spend their money. In truth, it's not any of their money: Regardless of the level of government, the funds ultimately come from the taxpayers.
A reality check might note, too, that sewage treatment is no less essential than police and fire protection. Unfunded mandates confuse lines of governmental responsibility, and they can, fairly or not, alter the distribution of the overall tax burden. But they eliminate neither taxation nor the need for taxation.
by CNB