The Senate Finance Committee voted on Sunday to send another state budget to Gov. Gary Johnson. Republicans warned he wouldn't like it any better than the first.
The full Senate could vote on the new spending plan as early as Monday. Then it would go to the House.
By law, the 30-day session ends Thursday.
"We're going to get (a budget) up to the governor and leave, and let him do what he wants with it," said Finance Committee Chairman Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City.
Johnson vetoed House Bill 2, the General Appropriations Act for the 2003 fiscal year. University-related items included full formula funding; a 2.5 percent tuition credit increase, which is the percentage that is subtracted from legislative funding that is made up by increasing tuition; and a 15 percent cut in all special projects except for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, New Mexico Poison Control and the Graduate Student Research Development Program.
The governor released a statement to House of Representatives last week outlining his reasons for vetoing the bill.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
He wrote, "I have repeatedly asked for a flat budget, adequate reserves for our future, and responsible Medicaid spending. This budget fails on all three counts."
He went on to say that he could not approve it because it did not include a realistic attempt to control the growth of Medicaid spending, $78 million was added to the recurring expenditure base in the face of only $8 million in new revenue and about $44 million of tobacco revenue has been earmarked to pay for recurring expenses leaving the tobacco permanent fund depleted.
The $3.88 billion budget endorsed Sunday whacks about $20 million in general-fund spending from the previous proposal - including $10 million that would have given teachers a 1.1 percent salary increase.
It doesn't cut Medicaid spending, although it switches the funding source for $19.5 million of it. Rather than taking it out of the state's tobacco settlement money - to which Johnson had objected - the money would come out of the state's cash reserves in increments, and only after the state Board of Finance certified that no other money was available.
"The people in the Legislature won't move from one (Medicaid) position and the governor won't move from another, and that is the real show-stopper," Altamirano said.
The Republican governor wants the Democrat-controlled Legislature to change the structure of Medicaid to save money by restricting eligibility and services. Johnson wants lawmakers to save $50 million in Medicaid spending next year, and has recommended eliminating medical benefits for 46,000 children and restricting other services.
The proposal was endorsed by the committee on a 6-3 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
"The bill is going to be vetoed," said Republican Sen. Joseph Carraro of Albuquerque. "What are we wasting our time for?"
"I think now we're just spinning our wheels," agreed Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces.
The governor had objected that the budget he vetoed Thursday provided for nearly $78 million in spending increases next year - obligating the state to keep funding that in the future - even though there is only expected to be about $8 million in new general tax revenues available next year.
The new proposal provides for about $54 million in new spending, eliminating from the vetoed proposal about $20 million in spending from the general fund - the state's main pot of money - and another $4 million from tobacco funds.
Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said he hoped the Legislature didn't get "an adolescent, knee-jerk reaction" from the governor to the latest proposal.
"Obviously we're not going to get anywhere with this governor, and we're going to have to rebuild" under the next administration, Smith said.
The governor said at a news conference after he vetoed the bill that there might be a shutdown of state government with the start of the new fiscal year in July if the Legislature failed to send him an acceptable budget to finance agencies and programs.
Aside from UNM's general funding requests that were part of House Bill 2, the University has more than 200 bills being considered by the Legislature that include requests to expand programs in the College of Education and School of Nursing; a student bill of rights; building expansion and maintenance on main campus; and a variety of Athletics Department facility improvements.
For more information on the status of University bills and information on contacting legislators, go to www.unm.edu/advancement/legislative.
Staff and Wire Report
