Party-line vote adopts Economic Outlook figure for state budget, 4.43% growth

Urging support for her substitute motion to adopt the governor’s revenue forecast, Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said, “I’m not suggesting at all that we appropriate more money than we have.”  But the motion was rejected on a 4-16 party-line vote. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee then voted 16-4 along party lines to adopt Rep. Maxine Bell’s original motion, adopting the Joint Economic Outlook Committee’s recommendation of a figure $33.3 million lower than the governor’s projection on which to set the state budget, a 4.43 percent increase over this year.

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “The good news is that we’re arguging about how good we’re going to do. We’re not arguing about a decrease, we’re arguing about the projected increase.”