HB 1/SF 1: General Government Appropriations
2007 General Session

Sponsor: Joint Appropriations Interim Committee

HB 1 and SF 1 were introduced as identical bills to supplement state government spending for the next fiscal year. In 2006, a two-year budget bill was adopted that allocated about $7.5 billion in spending for the state for the coming two years. The supplemental budget bill offers legislators an opportunity to adjust that two-year budget, at its halfway point. Towards the end of 2006, state revenues were estimated to be about $800 million more than had been expected when the 2006 budget was passed. By early 2007, those estimates had been revised downwards to about $540 million, a smaller but still significant revenue surplus.

The Governor’s proposed supplemental spending plan included (among other things) $180 million in additional spending on highways and airports, $45 million for future water storage projects, $150 million for local and county infrastructure projects, $43 million for capital construction at community colleges, and $35 million for the wildlife trust fund.

As a budget bill moves through the House and the Senate simultaneously, the bill invariably ends up with different amendments accepted in each chamber, so the bills that emerge from each are no longer identical. At that point, a conference committee will be appointed with representatives from both chambers, whose task is to achieve a compromise on all the differing points. This first conference committee may only address those parts of the bill that differ. If the House and the Senate do not both accept the results of the first conference committee, then a second conference committee will be appointed, and this time the committee may negotiate on any part of the budget bill. Ultimately, both the House and the Senate must pass an identical version of the bill.