Day 30 without a budget.  Not much good news again from the Conference Committee.  The House Democrats have wasted another day and look like they could waste another month.  Unless the structure of these meetings change and they don’t get down to brass tacks, we will definitely be looking at September or beyond for a complete budget.  The Republicans want to define some parameters such as, are we agreed that there will be no Personal Income Tax increase and what is the final expenditure number from last year’s budget.  Starting with the basics seems logical, but Representative Dwight Evans and his group want to play games first and get to the facts later.  I would urge everyone to watch these meetings on PCN and see for themselves how these people operate.    The Governor today said that he would be calling for the House to come back into session before Monday to get the stop gap budget passed.  I was amazed that he said yesterday how urgent it is to pay state employees and then acknowledge that the House is not in session until next week.  To the Governor and House Dems, it’s more about what you say than what you accomplish.

- John