Ryan Nicol
Though the Senate has reduced its ask for a boost in Lottery Department promotion funding, the House is standing firm in offering no money for the proposal.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government originally wanted $5 million to boost paid advertising for the Department, but dropped its ask to $3 million in its latest offer Wednesday.
But a new offer from the House State Administration Budget Subcommittee shows the lower chamber sticking with $0 for that line item.
That remains by far the biggest sticking point between the chambers regarding funding for the Department.
House and Senate negotiators grayed out several line items during Wednesday negotiations, and have finalized a few more in the House’s second offer Thursday.
Both chambers are including $3,500 to reduce expenses and nearly $47,000 to reduce other services. Those numbers were even as of Wednesday but had not yet been grayed out until Thursday’s offer.
The House, meanwhile, continues to insist on cutting five positions that have been vacant for more than 90 days, for a proposal that would save more than $349,000. The Senate has not yet agreed to any such cuts.
The upper chamber wants a $133,000 boost to increase operating costs. The House has consistently had $0 for that line item, and continued that stance in Thursday’s offer.
That all leaves the chambers just under $3.5 million apart regarding overall Department funding. The Senate is allocating just under $237.2 million, with the House at around $233.7 million. All of that money is coming from state trust fund dollars.
Budget conferences are still ongoing to tie up some of these loose ends, and a Thursday afternoon memo from Senate President Ben Albritton said a 2 p.m. deadline for unresolved issues to be bumped to Chairs has been moved back until 5 p.m. That gives committees more time to hash out the remaining unresolved issues.
