An Act To Resolve Tie Votes by the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee

Emergency preamble. Whereas,  acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and

Whereas,  county budget advisory committees perform a valuable public service in the development of the budgets of their respective counties; and

Whereas,  it serves the public interest for county budget advisory committees to resolve disagreements and issues regarding deliberations concerning county budgets and recommendations made by the committees; and

Whereas,  it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, for a budget advisory committee to perform its duties and issue recommendations with an even number of members, as an impasse can result; and

Whereas,  currently the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee has an even number of members and, in order to properly perform its duties regarding the 2019 county budget, a mechanism to resolve tie votes needs to be in place prior to September of this year; and

Whereas,  in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §900-B, sub-§4  is enacted to read:

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

This bill provides that in the event of a tie vote on a budget item by the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee, the committee is required to present the item to the Washington County commissioners to decide by majority vote.