The Select Committee met on March 24th and heard invited testimony from state agencies on the interim charge to assess the state’s ability to meet its current and future budget obligations.
During the hearing, John O’Brien Director of the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) and John Heleman the State’s Chief Revenue Estimator, spoke on future budget obligations and estimated revenues.
O’Brien echoed previous sentiments on his current predictions of an estimated budget deficit of $11 billion. This estimation assumes the state will see $75 billion in revenue and does not take into account enrollment growth and Health and Human Services case load growth, among other things.
The state is experiencing both a cyclical dip in revenue as well as a structural deficit. During the hearing, it was also highlighted that margin taxes are underperforming. Using 2009 figures, margin taxes totaled $2.5 billion instead of $4.2 billion. As a result, $4.6 billion was pulled from general revenue (GR) to cover the budget gap.
During the hearing it was also noted that the Comptroller’s office estimates there will be $8.2 billion in the rainy day fund during the next session.
