The House Appropriations Committee may not advance the main budget bill this session on a recognizable schedule.
That’s because Appropriations Chairman Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro, said he may wait until he gets a clear picture on what revenue bills the Senate is willing to send back to the House, which may come late in the session. Lawmakers must end the session by June 11.
“We really should wait until we can get a good handle on what kind of money we’ll be working with,” said Fannin.
The entire framework of the session is different this year due to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “revenue neutral” rule. The governor will not endorse any net increase in taxes, but he is willing to sign a tax increase if it is offset by a decrease elsewhere in the budget by the same amount. That’s a tall order with a $1.6 billion budget shortfall.
It has also resulted in a session with several moving pieces; while the budget is traditionally cobbled together each year with a small handful of bills, this spring lawmakers may be forced to use dozens of bills to balance the budget. Bills to increases taxes, reduce incentives and repeal exemptions are just a few examples.
Fannin said he needed assurances that the revenues targeted in bills moving through the House and Senate will ultimately be passed before he advances the budget that bears his name as the lead author.
“Good assurances are hard to come by lately,” he said with a laugh.
The bottom line may very well be a budget bill, found in HB 1, moving later than usual.