Monday, June 15, 2009

Pawlenty to announce budget plans tomorrow

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Last update: June 15, 2009

Gov. Tim Pawlenty will announce tomorrow his plan to balance Minnesota's budget using his executive powers to cut spending on his own, the process called unallotment.

The governor's office announced that Pawlenty and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. in the State Capitol to announce "proposed executive actions" to balance the 2010-11 budget.

Because Pawlenty and the DFL-controlled Legislature were unable to reach agreement on ways to bridge the state's deficit, the session ended last month with a $2.7 billion shortfall in the budget ending June 30, 2011.

Pawlenty vetoed a series of tax hikes that the Legislature passed without his approval.

State law allows the governor to rescind or delay payments when the state has a deficit. Under the unallotment system, Hanson would make the cuts subject to the governor's approval.

Kevin Duchschere • 651-292-0164

No comments:

Post a Comment