Wimped Out

This from H-L:

Legislative session ends without a state budget

After bickering for more than three months, lawmakers ended the 2010 General Assembly on Thursday without an executive branch budget.

A "disgusted" Gov. Steve Beshear called the legislature's inaction an "abject failure" and said he will call lawmakers back to Frankfort in May to close a roughly $1.5 billion gap between existing revenue and expected expenses during the next two years.

Beshear, his tie loosened and shirt sleeves rolled up, blamed the budget debacle on lawmakers who "decided to put their egos and their personal priorities above the needs of Kentucky families — families that are struggling to pay their bills and hold on to their jobs in the worst recession of our lifetime."

After rejecting the governor's budget proposal, which would have raised more than $700 million by allowing electronic slot machines at racetracks, leading lawmakers crowed that "writing their own budget would be their 'defining moment,'" Beshear said.

"Well, it was. A moment of abject failure," he said.

This from KSBA:

Wimped Out

Hopkins County Schools Superintendent James Lee Stevens is disappointed the Senate adjourned Thursday without approving a budget.

Lack of a state budget means the district can’t prepare its own spending plan, he said.

“Basically, usually the second board meeting in May, we present our draft budget to the board,” Stevens said. “In all probability, we will not present one. I can’t present one on ghost numbers.”

He also said the district can’t prepare a budget based on current numbers, because the state keeps cutting funding.

“This has really thrown a curve,’ Stevens said.

The lack of passage will have a wider impact because of additional legislation that had been attached to the budget bill, such as whether school will be in session for 185 or 187 days next year.

Without a decision on the number of instructional days, employees who work on 187-day contracts must be notified by May 15 if they may be paid less next year.

“Since they wimped out and left town without a budget, all that does is cause pain and heartache,” Stevens said. “It just causes a tremendous amount of burden and
uncertainty to my employees.”

This from the Paducah Sun (subscription):

Sen. Bob Leeper, chairman of the Senate budget committee, said efforts to reach an agreement should resume in a couple of weeks.

“Hopefully, everyone will go home, take a deep breath and listen to their constituents about what they expect us to do,” Leeper, I-Paducah, said soon after the Senate adjourned. “The governor will work with the leadership of the House and Senate. If they can reach a compromise for a reasonable budget, he’ll call us back for a special
session.”

Chances for a budget deal Thursday faded when Senate President David Williams declared that a so-called continuation budget House Speaker Greg Stumbo proposed failed to garner Senate support.

“It is the most important job that the General Assembly has, and the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget,” Williams told reporters.

An angry Stumbo later said Kentuckians had every right to be disappointed that Gov. Steve Beshear will have to call lawmakers back into a special session. Stumbo called it a needless expense.

“We don’t want to come back,” Stumbo told reporters. “I think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money to have to come back, and the very simple action of a continuation budget would have prevented us from coming back and would have saved that money.”

Leeper, who was involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations, doubts the $65,000-a-day special session will start before the May 18 primary elections.