News: Slow and steady wins the race – even in the legislative process: Lower Saxony’s 2023 Budget Acts are unconstitutional!

The Constitution of Lower Saxony permits the Landtag to conduct a swift deliberation on a bill only if it is carried out thoroughly and the rights of opposition Members of the Landtag to participate are respected (see Hartmann/Marx, ‘Minimum duration of deliberation on parliamentary bills: Requirements of the Constitution of Lower Saxony, NdsVBl. 2024, pp. 199–205). The legislative process for the Second Supplementary Budget Act 2023 and the associated accompanying act failed to meet these requirements of the Constitution of Lower Saxony. This is because the accelerated deliberations on the Second Supplementary Budget Act 2023 and the accompanying budget act in the Budget Committee between 19 April 2023 and 26 April2023 did not allow the plenary to slow down the process through a debate equivalent to that in the committee, but rather denied members of the parliamentary opposition sufficient opportunity to participate. Professor Hartmann and Simon Marx, a former assistant professor in Osnabrück, have sought to demonstrate this in the current issue (No. 8) of the *Niedersächsische Verwaltungsblätter*. The article is based on an expert opinion which the CDU parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony State Parliament had requested from Hartmann. A judicial review is currently pending before the Lower Saxony State Constitutional Court in this regard. Click on the link to find out more (external link, opens in a new window)!