OLYMPIA – The old saying that there’s never a cop around when you need one is particularly true right now in the Capitol, where the Legislature is violating the state budget law and no one is available to make an arrest.

We’re not talking about the law of good sense, which is certainly being violated as legislators lurch toward a new fiscal year without a budget to tell agencies how to spend state money. No, this is the actual budget law, which says the Legislature must pass a budget no later than 30 days before the end of the current fiscal year, and failure to do so is a misdemeanor. You can look it up, as Ring Lardner used to say. We did. Here are the citations:

RCW 43.88.080
Adoption of budget .

Adoption of the omnibus appropriation bill or bills by the legislature shall constitute adoption of the budget and the making of appropriations therefor. A budget for state government shall be finally adopted not later than thirty calendar days prior to the beginning of the ensuing biennium.

[1973 1st ex.s. c 100 § 5; 1965 c 8 § 43.88.080 . Prior: 1959 c 328 § 8.]

and

RCW 43.88.270 Penalty for violations.

Any officer or employee violating, or wilfully refusing or failing to comply with, any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

[1975-‘76 2nd ex.s. c 83 § 3.]

The fact that the law has been on the books since 1959 and a citation has never been issued in previous years when this deadline wasn’t met should not be a barrier to current enforcement. Do we not believe in law and order? Do we not subscribe to the “broken window” theory of policing in which you don’t let little infractions slide for fear they will beget bigger and bigger crimes?

But any dreams of an extremely satisfying citizen’s arrest were dashed by a call to the attorney general’s office, where Assistant Attorney General Jeff Even said legislators can’t be charged with a crime for not passing a budget by June 1, even though that’s what the law seems to suggest.

The office issued a formal opinion on the law in 1979, which it produces that whenever the Legislature gets bogged down on a budget. The law is directed at the Legislature as a whole to pass a budget by a set time, not the individual legislators. They couldn’t be charged with violating the law whether they voted for or against a budget at any point in time, or didn’t pass one by June 1.

So much for a chance to shout, “Book ‘em, Dano.”