John Spratt: “Mr. Chairman, this is important legislation. It is time we passed it. Local governments that have limited tax bases have…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is important legislation. It is time we passed it. Local governments that have limited tax bases have a right to resent it when they are imposed upon with mandates that are handed down to them from above, whether by State legislatures or from Congress. A core concept of this bill, the Moran bill, is the idea of fiscal impact statements as a heads-up to all of us, including local and State government, when we are about to pass a bill and pass the buck, to make us think twice about what it is going to cost State and local governments before we pass it, and to give them all a chance to object, demur, and raise questions about it. Unfortunately, this bill is a different bill from the Moran bill which passed last year and our committee reported and would have brought to the floor soon in this session. It is a different bill, and we have not had time to peruse it, to read it closely. We did not have time because we did not have hearings in our committee. If Members just peruse the bill they will find there are a lot of questions.”