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 Thursday, July 29, 2010
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| FKG Legislative Report: May 23, 2010 |
| Sunday, May 23, 2010 |
Legislature and Governor Work to Pass Budget Agreement
As the week ended, House and Senate members were struggling to pass revenue bills that would finalize the agreement between the Governor, Senate President Pro Tem and Speaker. If and when the final bills pass, the 2011 budget will amount to $6.7 billion, leaving only $100 million in the State Rainy Day Fund for use next year.
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| FKG Legislative Report: May 15, 2010 |
| Sunday, May 16, 2010 |
Partisan Bickering Slows Process
The Legislature and Governor have reached that point in the session when the Speaker, Pro Tem and State Treasurer (on behalf of the Governor) are trying to find common ground on the last of a series of agreements that will allow them to finalize the 2011 budget. They have settled into a routine of meeting for an hour or two, and then breaking so their staffs can run new numbers and so legislative leaders can meet with their respective caucuses. While the majority party works with the Governor, the Democrats have been holding a series of press conferences in an effort to push the Pro Tem and Speaker into supporting various new revenue enhancements. A lot of this is nothing but political posturing, of course, but it is the process that members go through each session as they wind down to sine die adjournment.
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| FKG Legislative Report: May 9, 2010 |
| Sunday, May 09, 2010 |
Budget Talks Heat Up
There are now three weeks remaining in the 2010 legislative session ― assuming the session does not end earlier than the constitutionally mandated date of May 28th ― and, as always, things are heating up on the budget front. Both houses of the legislature (and their respective party caucuses) have pretty much come to conclusions on what their positions will be concerning agency appropriations and revenue enhancement issues. Predictably, Democrats in both houses are aggressively pushing the majority party to include more revenue-raising measures in their final agreement with the governor. The Democrats have made a series of public announcements in an effort to gain support among interest groups that rely on appropriations for their survival. The Governor has presented a number of revenue-raising measures that are currently being considered by the leadership of both houses. |
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| FKG Legislative Report: May 1, 2010 |
| Sunday, May 02, 2010 |
Legislature, Governor Turn Attention to FY-2011 Budget
With only four weeks remaining in the 2010 legislative session, leaders of the House and Senate this week began serious negotiations with the Governor on the FY-2011 budget. Although there has been a great deal of progress to this point in the writing of agency budgets, the final hurdles to an acceptable compromise will be the hardest to jump. Final decisions must be made on which, if any, of the governor’s revenue enhancement ideas will be accepted by the House Speaker and the Senate President Pro Tem. Getting agreement between the state leaders might end up being the easiest part of the task. If fee increases are used to balance the budget, rank and file House and Senate members might balk, not wanting to raise fees right before they go home to campaign for reelection.
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| FKG Legislative Report: April 24, 2010 |
| Sunday, April 25, 2010 |
Legislature Meets Floor Deadline
The House and Senate reached another milestone this past week with the deadline for floor action on bills from the opposite house. In fact, the Senate finished their work early adjourning on Wednesday rather than Thursday, thus saving the state over $5,000. The House set a deadline of April 29th for rejecting Senate amendments to House bills and May 4th for requesting conferees. The Senate has not yet announced similar deadlines. Members will now turn their attention to working on bills in various conference committees and the General Conference Committee on Appropriations (GCCA).
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