House Democrats, Beshear look for ‘common ground’ on budget

State News

February 3, 2010

By Ronnie Ellis The Richmond Register Wed Feb 03, 2010, 07:03 AM EST

FRANKFORT — House Democratic leaders met with Gov. Steve Beshear for about 45 minutes Monday afternoon to see if they can work together on a plan to balance a state budget facing more than a $1.4 billion shortfall for the next two years.

“It went well,” Beshear said after meeting with Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville, Majority Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook, Whip John Will Stacy of West Liberty, Caucus Chair Bob Damron of Nicholasville and House budget chair Rick Rand of Bedford. He said he and lawmakers tried to find “common ground on the budget.”

It has not been easily found thus far — Beshear proposed to include about $780 million from expanded gambling at horse tracks in his budget proposal and lawmakers almost immediately rejected the idea. Stumbo and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, have said that proposal is not going anywhere in this session and Beshear on Monday conceded, “It’s going to be difficult to pass that legislation,” but went on to say lawmakers may still change their minds on the subject when they see how bleak the budget picture really is.

Stumbo and Beshear agreed the staffs of the two branches will work together to “share information” from state agencies as lawmakers try to craft a budget.

Earlier Stumbo said it appears the budget will face a $400 million shortfall in the first year and as much as a $700 million shortfall in the second year when federal stimulus money is scheduled to expire. He said again Monday he has some hopes the federal government may appropriate more stimulus money to help the fiscally challenged states.

Both said the discussions did not delve into details about specific funding cuts or which programs or services might be hardest hit. Stumbo said there was no discussion of layoffs in the meeting.

“We really didn’t talk about details,” Beshear said. “We just talked about how serious the situation was and the fact we’re facing a budget shortfall of about a billion and half dollars over the next two years.”

Beshear assured lawmakers his budget director Mary Lassiter and her staff would assist Rand as he begins to work up a budget proposal in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

Stumbo has said Rand and his committee are looking at “three of four” alternative budget proposals and he expects to share those with the House Democrats on Wednesday at their weekly caucus. He also said House leaders and Rand have been in regular communication with their Senate counterparts on the budget to discus “broad parameters” of the budget.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He may be contacted by e-mail at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.

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