Democratic State Senator Tom Sawyer says the state budget has turned into one very long lame duck session. He says the problem is lawmakers don't give bills attached to the budget proper consideration.
Sawyer: "Rather than getting several weeks' worth of hearings with independent witnesses and independent hearings, they get three to five minutes worth of testimony. And sometimes, they don't even get heard that much at all. They just get passed over."
Sawyer says he's not ruling out seeking a constitutional change that, if approved by voters, would prevent lawmakers from putting anything in the budget that should be a stand-alone bill. But Democrats are outnumbered by Republicans 2-1 in the Senate, so the idea would need GOP support to move.
