House Speaker William O’Brien today offered the following statement to the Governor’s proposed funding constitutional amendment after learning about them second-hand through press reports. CACR 12, a constitutional amendment offered by Speaker O’Brien to restore the authority of the legislature to exercise its traditional discretion over educational funding is currently retained in the Senate to be taken up in 2012.
Speaker William O’Brien
“After months of trying to work with the Governor he has yet to present the House any language even though he told us several times he would, most recently a month ago that he would do so. Governor Lynch has indicated that he can deliver no votes to pass this amendment. It is disappointing we have to read about this for the first time in the press and not hear from the Governor himself. As such this appears to be more of a publicity stunt than an actual concrete proposal to resolve the education funding problem created by the courts. This is clearly the action of a lame duck Governor who is more interested in the appearance of a legacy than actually solving the problem that he pledged to fix when he first ran in 2004.”