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To My District 24 Neighbors:
There has been a lot of talk about the state budget this month.
Truth be told, I thought the budget would be finished by now. The House has worked hard to address the Senate's concerns. We have negotiated in good faith. Every time I think we have a deal, it falls apart.
We passed a conservative budget with hundreds of millions in tax relief, funded critical road and bridge repairs, helped pay our teachers and police, invested in community infrastructure, and funded economic development for better jobs in the future.
Property tax relief is also top-of-mind, I assure you. I believe the proper course for property tax relief is a holistic approach similar to the way we handled the income tax rate reduction. We need to bring all the stakeholders together to determine the best, most equitable reform is not only better for the State in the longer term, but also better for our citizens today. While we may be able to offer a short-term tax swap to help some of our seniors, the House will not fund a recurring expense with one time money. Simply throwing money at a problem is not a good solution, and it's not a conservative solution.
Meanwhile, I am standing with the House (and Senate's) community development projects. These are public safety projects in communities for police and volunteer fire departments, water line extensions for people with tainted wells, sewer access for homeowners to protect the environment, and economic development and tourism projects that will reap huge benefits later. These are worthwhile expenditures of money that communities raised to us through their local representatives and went through the budget process.
Perhaps not all of them are great projects, that's why we have invited our Senate colleagues to debate them and take a vote on the merits of each one — up or down. If they're not worthy of the votes of the conference committee, ok. That's a transparent and democratic process.
As the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, I assure you the House conferees will continue to work on compromise and for good solutions. We passed a continuing resolution so state government will remain open — so we don't stop public services like Congress does. Teachers and public employees will get paid, services will continue, and parks will remain open. However, we need to come to a solution quickly to ensure everyone has certainty in the new budget year.
The House and Senate agree on more than 96% of the state budget. The final few percent is always a sticking point. We'll get through it, and I will do my best to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Have a great rest of your summer as the clock ticks down to the start of the school year in a few weeks!
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