Tennessee’s General Assembly passed out next year’s budget package late last night. After a day of private wrangling, lawmakers compromised on several key issues, avoiding a protracted fight between the two chambers.
Democrats agreed to stagger funds for bridge construction, while Republicans backed down from paying for pre-kindergarten education with one-time funds. The administration had argued that was a step toward killing the program, which drew the threat of a veto from Governor Phil Bredesen.
Although Bredesen is in Europe this week, Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle says the governor approved the compromise.
“I have personal information that the governor has been closely following the events on his recruiting trip, and we could not have come to the accommodations we reached on the appropriations bill without his personal involvement and his personal okay on certain matters.”
Republican legislators had aimed to speed up some budget cuts, in case state revenues dip even further. But as part of the deal, lawmakers will leave it up to the administration to make those cuts if they’re needed.
WEB EXTRA:
By Joe White
The House took up the $29 billion appropriations bill first, around 10:30 p.m., with Republican members asking a series of questions to ensure:
– That Governor Phil Bredesen will impound another $55 million if revenues don’t match projections after July 1.
– That the budget really is only $29.6 billion next year, or $200 million less than this year, and
– That it’s in fact only $28.4 billion if you don’t count the federal stimulus money.
Democrats and Republicans had agreed to be civil to each other to get the budget passed, but Representative Brian Kelsey of Germantown skirted the edge of the agreement, calling Bredesen’s budget irresponsible.
“This budget counts over half a billion dollars in one-time, federal stimulus funds, as if those dollars are going to continue to come into the state for years to come. And those dollars are not going to continue to come into the state.
They’re one-time dollars. So rather than making these tough cuts that every other state is making, we’re just passing the buck to the next governor to make those tough cuts. This is a fiscally irresponsible budget, and I think history will prove that a ‘no’ vote, was the right vote.”
House Finance Chair Craig Fitzhugh spent most of Wednesday trying to convince fellow Democrats that the budget, 10% smaller than originally projected, had not been cut too fine. He blasted back at Kelsey.
“In the strongest terms that I can say, I believe the comments concerning fiscal irresponsibility are in error. We are not treating this federal stimulus money that we have received from the federal government as a recurring source of revenue. In fact, we are recognizing it as non-recurring, and with your vote tonight you will recognize it, as a matter of this budget, that it is not recurring, and will not continue after next year.”
The appropriations passed the House 85-12 about 11 p.m. House Democratic Caucus Chair Mike Turner had earlier said he expected at least 30 GOP votes for the budget. The final vote exceeded that.
The bill passed the Senate 32-1 an hour later, with no changes, thus avoiding a potential conference committee.
The bond bill is HB 2390 Fitzhugh/ SB 2358 Kyle.
Republicans had argued from the first that selling bonds to build more bridges than normal wasn’t the way it has always been done in the state.
In the end, they won their point, with the administration agreeing to spread the bond issuance across four years, selling $87.5 million worth each year. The total would be $438 million worth of contracts, to be let as the money is raised. The bill passed 89-9 in the House. Within an hour it passed the Senate 30-3.
The Omnibus bill is SB 2357 Kyle/SB 2389 Fitzhugh.
It had previously passed the Senate last Friday, 31-0, but was dormant in the House until last night. The bill was delayed in the House when Democrats tried to ensure that mental health involuntary admissions would have guaranteed beds, a measure that turned out to be expensive.
Other Democrats smoothed over that worry by adding language that makes no changes that would result in any money being spent.
The index bill is HB 2391 Fitzhugh/SB 2356 Kyle.
Passage of the index bill makes it legal for the legislature to exceed the “Copeland Cap.” Named after former legislator David Copeland, the cap is the amount that the state economy is expected to grow in the upcoming fiscal year. This year, because the legislature is spending so much federal stimulus money, the appropriations bill exceeds the expected growth in the state economy by 2.45%, or about $248.5 million.
Both houses had previously passed the “technical corrections bill,” which closes loopholes and in the last few years has raised a good deal of revenue from business tax changes.
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