Budget compromise reached
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Mar 7, 2006 Posted by Bill Luckett
The 10 budget conference committee members finally wrapped up their work about 5:30 p.m. this evening after starting their day at 8 a.m. So tomorrow, both chambers will cast votes on the compromise version of the budget bill. If either side votes not to adopt the compromise version, another conference committee will be appointed, a "free committee," which will be able to change any part of the budget in hopes of coming up with something that will pass in both chambers. But I don't see anything in the compromise budget version that should imperil the budget in either chamber. Plus, legislators want to go home.
Yesterday, there was talk of extending the session into Saturday, the idea being that lawmakers would get the budget bill to Gov. Freudenthal's desk tomorrow (Wednesday), he would have three days to act on it, and the Legislature would have a chance to override any line-item vetoes he might issue. But apparently, the governor told the legislative leadership that he will do his best to get the bill back to them within two days, so they could vote on any potential veto overrides on Friday.
I don't have every last detail of the budget compromise, but I know a few things. As for deposits into the Permanent Wyoming Minerals Trust Fund, the compromise is to place $20 million into the fund Jan. 1, 2007; place $60 million into the fund June 30, 2007; and place $120 million into the fund June 30, 2008. That means lawmakers guarantee that some money will go into the fund at the end of this year, but they will meet again for the 2007 general session before any more money is deposited into the fund. That way, if state revenues drop off dramatically, they can rethink the issue of how much to put into the trust fund in total. Contrarily, if state revenues continue rolling in way ahead of projections, some members will probably work to stash even more money into the permanent fund before the end of the fiscal biennium that ends June 30, 2008.
The removal of the sales tax on food and the proposal to place $28 million into the Wildlife Trust Fund remained intact, so they will be included in the compromise budget bill that the chambers plan to vote on tomorrow.
The conference committee also agreed to allow $8.8 million to be used to help raise state employees closer to market pay, and this is in addition to the cost-of-living allowance that was already built into Gov. Freudenthal's budget. The committee voted to place $27.5 million into the Water Development III Account, which is less than half the $59.68 million Freudenthal had requested, but it's a lot better than the Joint Appropriations Committee's recommendation of zero. The conference committee also added between $10 million and $12 million for libraries across the state.
What's not entirely clear is how much this compromise budget leaves on the table or in reserve accounts. I did not hear exact dollar figures mentioned during the committee meetings. My guess is that the compromise budget version cannot be paid for without dipping into the money lawmakers had at one point planned to save in the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account. Gov. Freudenthal recommended putting $415 million into that account, and the Appropriations Committee added $100 million to that. The Legislative Service Office will probably have documents prepared by tomorrow to show where the compromise budget version leaves each account's bottom line.
In other news, House Bill 92, the quality child care bill, cleared second reading after the Senate adopted three amendments to it, none of which were really very interesting. Tomorrow is the Big Day to see if the bill makes it out of the Senate on third reading. If it does, it will then go to the House for a vote on the amendments the Senate tacked on. If the House rejects the Senate version, a joint conference committee will be appointed to try to craft a compromise that can get through both chambers. We issued a press release today in which Democrats urge legislators to support the bill.
Tomorrow: Two big votes (budget and HB 92), and an update on other legislation I have mentioned in past blogs but have not followed completely through the process.
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Re: Budget compromise reached
Mar 8, 2006 | Bill Luckett | bill@wyomingdemocrats.comChris, I can see why the two documents could have different figures, because I don't think the conference committee report takes into consideration the impact of the other bills that are still alive. Looking at the goldenrod, it appears legislators chose to put exactly $10 million in the General Fund, exactly $86.5 million in the Budget Reserve Account, exactly $200 million during the 2007-08 biennium into the permanent minerals trust fund, and whatever else they have left over into the LSRA (on today's goldenrod it says $269 million). It is my understanding that the other spending bills, depending on their success or failure, will get their money from - or put more money into - the LSRA.
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Re: Budget compromise reached
Mar 8, 2006 | Chris Boswell | cboswell@wyoming.comBill, Please remember that the LSRA amount listed in the budget bill conference report may be different than the LSRA amount on the goldenrod. I believe one or more of the other bills still alive in the process uses LSRA as a source of funding. Chris