The joint committee charged with determining the revenue figure on which Idaho's state budget for next year will be set has opted for a figure $100 million below the governor's figure - which means lawmakers will either have to cut much deeper into next year's budget than even Otter proposed going, or they'll have to dip much further into the state's rainy-day funds. The Joint Legislative Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee accepted the governor's revenue estimate for the current year, fiscal year 2009, of $2.6338 billion - which is down 9.5 percent from the previous year. But instead of accepting his estimate for the coming year, fiscal 2010, of $2.6593 billion, the committee went with a significantly lower figure, $2.5579 billion. That's $101.4 million less.

Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, the House majority caucus chair, made the motion, and it passed with only one dissenting vote, from Rep. Bill Killen, D-Boise.

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