Week 4: Budgeting as Policy Making

1
Week 4 Budgeting as Policy Making

• Discuss memo 2 and selection of
  agency/department
• What is policy making in the context of budgets?
• Application of Kingdon model of policy making to
  budgeting (Thurmaier and Willoughby)
• Role of state budget offices
• Budget and policy making in local government
• Guest Speaker -- Cheryl Stewart, Department of
  Finance
• Life in DOF and their role in policy making
• Preview of Week 5

2
Policy Making and Budgets

• How are the authors for this weeks readings
  defining the word policy in the context of
  budgeting?
• What are example of non-policy budget decisions?

3
The Kingdon Model of Policy-making

• Purpose
• how do issues rise and fall on the agenda?
• how do agendas translate into policy?
• how can non-incremental change be explained?
• Key feature distinction between agendas
  (problems) and alternatives (policies)
• different processes
• different participants and roles
• Major challenge to linear models of policy making!

4
The Kingdon Model Components

• Three streams or processes
• problems (agendas)
• policies (alternatives, solutions)
• politics
• Two types of participants
• visible cluster (dominate agenda and political
  streams)
• hidden cluster (dominate policy stream)
• Window of Opportunity
• predictable, e.g. elections, budget process
• unpredictable, e.g. natural disaster

5
Kingdon Model Policy Change

• Three streams must converge
• Being on agenda is necessary but not sufficient
• need solutions and ripe political conditions
• Role of the policy specialists
• form communities and work on alternatives
• look for opportunities to match to problems
• policy entrerpreneurs
• bring the solutions together with problems
• importance of framing

6
Kingdon Model Applied to BudgetingThurmaier and
Willoughby

• key concept understanding budget problems as
  policy problems
• not a question of economic efficiency but values
• allows application of Kingdon
• how do budget issues get on the agenda?
• how does budget policy get made?
• State Budget Offices play a key role
• gatekeepers
• how do they make decisions? (micro model)

7
Different State Budget Office Orientations

• Control orientation
• Compile agency requests
• Dont question policy orientation
• Budget execution emphasis
• Far removed from Governors policy staff
• Policy orientation
• Analyze agency proposals against Governors
  policy
• Develop alternatives
• Proactive on major policy/budget issues
• Focus on agency mission and effectiveness
• Closer involvement with Governors policy staff

8
Policy-oriented Budget Offices and Policy Change

• Budget analysts are like Kingdons policy
  entrepreneurs
• nexus of macro and micro budgeting
• manage top down and bottom up information flow
• bring together problems, solutions, politics
• part of hidden cluster of actors (institutional
  memory)
• two major deadlines provide windows
• Skills used
• efficiency analysis technical/economic
• effectiveness analysis political, social, legal

9
Bland and Rubin Local Budgeting

• Discussion question
• Bland and Rubin argue that failure to openly
  deliberate the policy issues behind budget
  decisions impedes progress and is undemocratic.
• Discuss both charges (impede progress and
  undemocratic)
• Are they suggesting, in contrast to Thurmaier and
  Willoughby, that delegating the majority of
  levels 1 and 2 budget decisions to budget staff
  is undemocratic?
• 3. Is there a reason that local and state
  processes should differ in this respect?

10
Local Budgeting (v State)

• More constrainedless discretionary
• Less political executive influence
• More managerial/staff-driven
• city manager drives budget
• mayor policy positions not very public
• More expectation for direct citizen access and
  participation
• More or less ideological?

11
Preview of Week 5

• Kettl -- excellent and very readable
• Think about rationality
• what does it mean?
• can/should budgeting be rational?
• Weekly email question
• Memo 2 due need to decide on agency or
  department for class assignments