718 WEST 5th ST AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701 47170155 South Taylor Echo Tuscola, Texas ocT 1 6 wo GOVERNOR'S REIPOR"I` LI I I by William P Clements Jr. For a quarter century, Texas governors have sought unsuccessfully to acquire meaningful control over State spending through budget execution powers. On November 4. Texas voters will have an oppor- tunitv to provide that needed fiscal disciplinary authority by a constitutional amendment. That amendment— authorizing the Legislature to grant the governor control over expenditures of appropriated State funds, subject to approval of a seven-member budget execution commit- tee—is one of nine on the general election ballot. As Governor, I support all nine. Amendment 5 (budget execution) tops my priority list of the November amendments. I also strongly favor Amendment 6 which would allow the governor, subject to two-thirds State Senate approval, to remoNe his own appointees to public offices. The amendment would also allow the governor to call special sessions of the Senate. for not more than two days. to act on proposed removals. Recently, in a joint news conference with Supreme Court Chief Justice be Greenhill and others, I an- nounced my enthusiastic backing of Amendment 8. That amendment briefly will help reduce the staggering ap- pellate caseloads in the Court of Criminal Appeals by expanding jurisdiction of our 14 Courts of Civil Ap- peals to criminal as well as civil matters. Space does not permit a discussion of all the amend- ments, so I will concentrate here on those of direct inter- est to the governor. I doubt that the average citizen realizes just how lim- ited is the governor's authority to hold the lid on State spending. He is. by law, the chief budget officer of the - State. But the Legislature writes. the State budget. He can veto an entire appropriations hill or specific items within it. but he cannot reduce an appropriation which he considers excessive. Nor can he veto legislative riders setting conditions on how money is to be spent—or in- sure that funds are spent as the Legislature intended. Amendment 5 contemplates some sensible direction over a budget which exceeds $10 billion a year. Under its terms. subsequent legislation could empower the governor to limit spending by an agency, to transfer funds from one agency to another or to order that all or part of the money appropriated for a particular pur- pose he spent for that purpose. All of these actions would be subject to approval by a budget execution committee composed of the gov- ernor. lieutenant governor, speaker of the House. the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Finance Com- mittee and the chairman and vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. I believe that the amendment, while certainly no cure- all. will provide valuable tools to control the increasing cost of State government and increase efficiency of the system. Budget execution properly is an executive func- tion, and the governor is in the best position to observe the overall effectiveness of State government and to re- spond to fiscal emergencies. A major weakness of government is the difficulty of removing incompetent, lackadaisical or inadequate ap- pointees to important positions. Amendment 6 would allow the governor to initiate removal action against his own appointe.....s subject to advice and consent of two- thirds of the Senate. While I appoint many hundreds of board members each year, the governor's power to shape the course of more than 200 agencies within the executive branch is largely limited to his persuasiveness. The proposed amendment, again, would bring no miraculous changes, but it would he a step in the right direction. It would give me no authority to remove ap- pointees of my predecessors. but at least it would make it possible for me to fire some of my own (with Senate concurrence) if their performance is not up to the high standards Texas citizens are entitled to.