Issue Position: Ensuring a Balanced Budget

Issue Position

We have entered a period of extreme volatility in the state's revenue picture. Spending in the 2011-13 declined significantly from the previous two biennia and currently (as of mid-July 2011) is not on track to meet even our declining expectations. This was the first budget I was responsible for as chairman of the House budget committee and it was a daunting project. It's our constitutional requirement to produce a balanced budget, and we did so with relatively little drama and with no significant budget gimmicks. We were able to reach a bi-partisan agreement with the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, though the House Republicans declined to participate in the budget process.

As we look forward to the interim work we will do to track our budget and to the 2013-15 budget it's my job to balance relative spending priorities and the appropriate balance between low taxes and services that enable the economy to perform.

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