The governor spoke to reporters briefly this morning about the budget and the progress (or lack thereof) the legislature is making on passing the budget. Here are some quotes:
On the legislature adjourning until Tuesday in hopes of having more details about the buyouts: “I’m happy to give them what we have. As I’ve said, this is a very complicated process and we need to do it right. If they want to hang around 2 or 3 more weeks, I guess they’d have all the details.”
On Mike Turner’s plan to take $100 million out of the rainy day fund to delay layoffs for a year: “That’s exactly the road that led to income tax proposals and everything else here a couple years ago…I think that would be a very bad mistake.”
On whether or not he’s surprised at the legislature’s reaction to his budget: “The last few days of the legislature are an extraordinary time where logic kind of goes out the window and politics comes very heavily into play. And that certainly is the case in this particular circumstance.”
On his work on the buyout package and bringing in consultants to help: “I’m working very hard to hit and even overshoot the number of voluntary buyouts. It’s just so much better for everybody.”
Also, Rep. Gary Odom gave me a couple of details about what has been determined about the buyout package. It would include tuition assistance for employees who might want to go back to school. He says the tuition support would be equivalent to the tuition of the most expensive public institution in the state. There will also be an extension of health insurance benefits, the state paying for COBRA for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. What hasn’t been decided is how much to pay an employee to leave state government. And of course, that’s the big number.
