Due to this lack of transparency and open public deliberation, the conference should be used exclusively to compromise when the two chambers disagree on funding levels and to decide whether an item funded by only one chamber should be included in the final state budget. This should not be the time to fund new items, particularly funding that goes to a specified private entity or narrow geographic location.

This should not be done through Sprinkle Lists. The practice of spending hundreds of millions of dollars, largely on members’ pet projects, as an afterthought, should be discontinued.