BUDGET CRISIS

State Senate President Tim Bee: Campaign photoPHOENIX -- A day after Arizona House Speaker Jim Weiers (R-Phoenix) announced a proposal to resolve the roughly $2 billion budget shortfall the state faces in fiscal year 2008-2009, the state Senate has followed suit, rolling out its own plan to cover the gap. State Senate President Tim Bee (R-Tucson) and state Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger (D-Willcox) appeared jointly at a capitol press conference to announce the Senate version, which Legislature Democrats and Gov. Janet Napolitano are likely to find more palatable.

"We believe this budget is reasonable, responsible and sustainable," said Bee at the press event announcing the breakthrough.

The Senate proposal calls for a $361 million in cuts to state agencies - $140 million less than what the House plan calls for. It also includes a K-12 rollover, in which payments to public schools are delayed by four weeks, which has the effect of pushing some payments into the next fiscal year. Coupled with reductions in building renewal, bonding for new school construction and $106 million in transfers out of the Highway Users Revenue Fund, the budget package totals $2.02 billion, which should make up the projected shortfall.

And don't forget to vote in this week's Cartoon Caption Contest. Voting ends at noon on Friday.

State Treasurer Dean MartinArizona should not breathe too big a sigh of relief after yesterday's budget adjustment, according to State Treasurer Dean Martin. Even as today Governor Janet Napolitano signed the corrective legislation that came out of yesterday's whirlwind session, Martin warns that the state dodged a bullet, and that real disaster could be a mere two months away without swift and decisive action.

It was a busy day and a long evening for legislators at the capitol, but by the end of it the Senate and House had abruptly, and, as it seemed to outsiders (and most Democrats), out of the blue, resolved the 2008 budget. With the Governor looking like she'll sign the legislation, it's on to the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 problem - one that looms larger and must be resolved in the next 10 weeks.

After months of wrangling, negotiations, vetoes and media wars, a breakthrough in the budget debacle may be in the offing. Today a bill advanced that seeks to shore up the 2008 budget, and one Senate insider thinks may finally put to rest half of the state's two-year, multi-billion dollar fiscal crisis.