Put away those thoughts of another government shutdown. The
inside
word is key negotiators as early as Tuesday could finalize a tentative
budget agreement that could clear the way for legislative conference
committees to pass their bills in plenty of time to meet the October
first-shutdown deadline.
Talks between the governor's office and the two legislative
leaders and their staffs have progress to the point where only a
handful of budget issues remain. One of those is the liquor
distribution item that the governor proposed recently.
Bidding that out to net the state as much as $75 million is not
going to happen according to one source familiar with the talks. But
another liquor related item, if adopted in its place, could result in
about $37 million.
All of this is expected to come to a head with a supposed
resolution tomorrow. This source believes most of the department
budget targets are ready to go and all of this will be accomplished
without a tax hike.
Yes, Yes, you will believe it when you see it, but this source
is pretty good and
while it would be a better story to have a shutdown, in this political
year these guys
are not quite that stupid to let it happen.