Gov. Bill Richardson wants to avoid job losses and keep tax cuts intact when state lawmakers convene in October to address another massive budget shortfall.
Richardson announced plans for the special session on Tuesday, and said he wants to limit it to one day. He wants a bipartisan compromise on a budget fix before lawmakers convene.
“Because our budget deficit is directly related to the national recession, I want to make sure that we don’t take any action that might cost jobs or adversely affect the state economy,” Richardson said in a news release.
Estimates place the budget shortfall at anywhere between $300 million and $500 million. Though the special session was announced on Tuesday, the expectation that lawmakers would have to meet this fall to plug another budget shortfall was known when the Legislature addressed last fiscal year’s shortfall during the regular legislative session that ended in March.
So what’s the solution this time? Richardson referenced the state’s “healthy cash reserves” in his news release but said the state is “definitely facing tough challenges, and we must continue to make sacrifices to balance the budget.” The budget shortfall could be addressed by transferring money from the state’s cash reserves.
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos also told The Associated Press that, while the governor would prefer that state services aren’t affected, “we may have to go that route now.” Gallegos said Richardson wants to avoid layoffs.
Though other groups are pushing for the elimination of the 2003 tax cuts for personal income, corporate income and capital gains, Richardson said in the news release that he wants to keep them intact “so we don’t hurt efforts to recruit new business.”
Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales was quoted by the AP as saying that lawmakers are “going to have to make some adjustments in every aspect of state government.”
“This is the toughest thing we’ve had to do in my 26 years in the Senate — but it’s a tough thing nationally,” he said.