A GOP-backed bill requiring state personnel cuts died on a party-line vote in committee during debate that hinged more on budget philosophy than the legislation’s merits.
Democrats said the across-the- board personnel cuts proposed in Senate Bill 168 were not a specific solution, while Republicans countered that the majority was filling massive budget holes with short- term federal grants and avoiding tough cuts.
They’re the same arguments both sides have made for months.
The proposal comes as the state faces a $2.2 billion budget shortfall in the current fiscal year, with a new forecast that could bring more bad news looming later this month.
Bill sponsor Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry said the state’s workers should suffer the same impact as private-sector employees, 90,000 of whom lost their jobs in 2009.
“This idea that all the tough cuts have been made is ridiculous,” Penry said. “We think government needs to reduce spending. But when Republicans talk about cuts, whether specific programs or across the board, Democrats become the party of ‘no.’ “
His bill died 3-2 in the Senate State Affairs Committee. The legislation would have required the governor to cut $17.8 million in state payroll this year and $306 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Independent of the failed bill, about 15,500 state employees will have taken eight unpaid furlough days by the end of this fiscal year, saving the state $30 million.
Democrats pointed out that demand for state services like unemployment and food stamps skyrocket in troubled economic times and so those public employees are needed.
A spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter said the legislation was unrealistic, the equivalent to furloughing all the 25,000 employees under the governor’s control for five months.
“To achieve the dollar amount that Sen. Penry was suggesting, we would literally have to shut down state prisons, state psych hospitals and other facilities for five months,” Evan Dreyer said. “Or, we would have had to impose a 40 percent pay cut on employees.”
