CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of both the state Senate and state House of Delegates will vote Friday on the state’s more than $4 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
After long days and nights of talks that started with an extended session on Monday, leading lawmakers reached a deal Thursday evening.
“The conferees put the ball on the one yard line. It’s fourth and goal and now the coaches are huddling and they need to punch it over,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Roman Prezioso (D-Marion, 13), earlier in the day, on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Prezioso said the latest form of the budget bill would take $142 million from the Rainy Day Fund to balance the budget. If a bill dealing with lottery revenues is approved in a Special Session, the take from the Rainy Day Fund would drop to $121 million.
The lottery bill, also dubbed the “bucket bill” or “haircut bill,” addresses allocations from excess lottery funds.
Prezioso said the latest proposal would reduce lottery revenues for infrastructure by $20 million for one year, while taking 10 percent from revenues for racetrack development — including those in the thoroughbred and greyhound industry — permanently. The current $10 million allocation would fall to $9 million.
The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Fund was also a focus for the budget conferees. The sides agreed to take approximately $10 million from the $19 million with some of that going to the Aged and Disabled Waiver Program.