Legislation introduced this week by St. Cloud Rep. King Banaian presents an intriguing and much-needed approach to scrutinizing what state government does with your money.

House File 2 has two main thrusts — priority-based (or zero-based) budgeting and, once every 10 years, putting all state agencies, services and mandates through a results-oriented review. Those that don’t pass muster, as judged by a commission, would be eliminated.

That Republicans control the Legislature coupled with Banaian’s expertise as an economics professor and the state Chamber of Commerce’s support means the bill should get — and does deserve — serious debate this session.

While the past eight years of Gov. Tim Pawlenty certainly created surpluses of political rhetoric and blame for Minnesota’s budget mess, the state’s looming deficits (literally) revealed that its budget-building structure needs serious reform. This proposal holds the potential to achieve that.

However, for it to get through the legislative process, supporters will need to more fully explain several details.

The biggest questions are about the legislative commission charged with implementing the proposal. Another key detail that’s missing is how much all this will cost. Remember, the proposal creates an ongoing review process for $33 billion in state services. Such a massive effort is going to take more resources initially, with the goal clearly being a return on that investment as years pass.

We look forward to hearing all those answers as this proposal seeks to do something long needed for the state: overhaul its budget-building process.

— St. Cloud Times