{"id":6741,"date":"2009-09-23T22:37:16","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T04:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=6741"},"modified":"2009-09-24T11:39:35","modified_gmt":"2009-09-24T17:39:35","slug":"lawmakers-push-bigger-cuts-than-governor-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/09\/lawmakers-push-bigger-cuts-than-governor-wants\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers want bigger budget cuts than guv"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by cjc4454\/flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018We believe we have little choice,\u2019 Rep. Luciano \u2018Lucky\u2019 Varela says<\/h4>\n

A group of lawmakers shared a proposal with Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> today that includes bigger budget cuts than the governor has proposed and a reduction in education spending that he doesn\u2019t want.<\/p>\n

Though the current fiscal-year budget shortfall is presently projected to be $433 million, a news release from the lawmakers said the gap could grow to $550 million \u201cbecause corporate income and personal income tax collections as well as gross receipts tax collections continue to be lower than estimated earlier this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the branch of government with the responsibility to appropriate funds, the Legislature must take a responsible and even more painful position on this budget crisis,\u201d Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in the release.<\/p>\n

The Albuquerque Journal<\/a> reported earlier today that lawmakers and members of the governor\u2019s staff were going to talk about a proposal from lawmakers that would include cutting public-school funding by $77 million. That would be part of a 3.5 percent, across-the-board cut for all state agencies and public schools.<\/p>\n

By contrast, the governor\u2019s proposal<\/a> to fix the budget crisis includes smaller cuts of 3 percent for state agencies and no cuts for public schools. But making \u201cless drastic spending cuts now,\u201d the news release from the lawmakers states, \u201cwill simply delay the inevitable and would make it more difficult for agencies to absorb subsequent budget cuts because less time remains in the fiscal year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can hope for the best, but we absolutely must, as fiscal stewards of the state, prepare for the worst,\u201d said Rep. Luciano \u201cLucky\u201d Varela<\/a>, D-Santa Fe and chair of the Legislative Finance Committee. \u201cWe recognize that many of the proposed cuts will make a number of people unhappy, but we believe we have little choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the future<\/h3>\n

The scenario discussed today, according to the news release, \u201cincluded cutting state agency and public school spending, using federal stimulus funds, switching some capital outlay funding from the general fund to severance tax bond proceeds, canceling some unused capital outlay projects and transferring some money from various state funds to the general fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Don Bratton<\/a>, R-Hobbs, said in the release that the proposal is about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legislative session that begins in January will be the last regular session for this governor, but the vast majority of legislators will still be here working to balance the budget in years to come,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be working to make sure that our public schools, public safety and other vital programs remain in operation, regardless of the state of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office did not put out a statement following today\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers said they\u2019re meeting again with the governor\u2019s staffers on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of lawmakers shared a proposal with Gov. Bill Richardson today that includes bigger budget cuts than the governor has proposed and a reduction in education spending that he doesn\u2019t want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-6741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}