Senator Coffee Comments on Zero-based Budget Proposal

"The idea of zero-based budgeting isn't new. The Republican members of the Senate tried to do this last session, but there simply wasn't enough support from the other side of the aisle. What's different this year is that our incoming Governor favored the idea during his campaign; we're hopeful that support will continue in the session."

"For years, the practice has been to write the state budget based on the previous year's appropriations, with a few minor adjustments depending on available resources. With zero-based budgeting you start from scratch and justify every expenditure to make sure you aren't wasting tax dollars."

"Obviously, with only four months in the regular session, we don't have enough time to do zero-based budgeting with every single entity that gets state appropriations. But it would be very feasible to target all the major agencies over a four year period. With the current budget crises, it is more important than ever to make sure we are make the best choices possible in terms of the budget, while balancing the very important needs in areas like education, health, public safety and transportation. I believe zero-based budgeting would enable us to do that."