BUDGET DEADLINE PLAN TOUTED; LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR WOULD FORFEIT SALARIES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Assemblyman George Runner wants to provide the governor and his fellow lawmakers with an incentive for approving the state budget on time: Take away their pay for each day it's late.

Runner is the co-author of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 2, which would require the governor and state legislators to forfeit their pay for each day they miss the June 30 deadline. The bill was co-written by Jim Morrissey, an Orange County Republican.

``If there was an incentive like `do this or lose your pay,' that would create a desire to get a budget done on time,'' Runner said.

Putting together a state budget will always be a contentious issue, Runner said, but the Legislature has five months to do it.

Delays cause problems for the state's vendors and for its employees, and also hamper efforts by other governmental bodies, such as city governments and school boards, in preparing their budgets because of uncertainty over how much state money they can expect to receive.

The Legislature receives the governor's budget proposal Jan. 15. By state law, it is required to pass the budget no later than June 15, and it must be signed by the governor no later than June 30.

There is no penalty if the budget is late.

In the past 11 years, the governor and Legislature have failed to meet the June 30 deadline eight times. In 1992, the budget was more than two months late, forcing the state to issue IOUs to pay employees and vendors.

Runner's bill needs a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to pass. Voters would then have to approve the measure before the state's constitution could be amended.

ACA 2 is expected to be heard sometime in early June by the Assembly Committee on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments.