House appropriators on Sunday approved a two-year budget that axes some of Gov. Tim Kaine’s spending proposals — like expanded prekindergarten — but also draws money from a “rainy day” fund legislators had hoped to avoid tapping this year.
The scaled-back spending plan reflects an almost $1.4 billion shortfall caused by an unexpectedly sharp drop in tax revenue, which has sent budget makers in both parties scrambling.
The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee, however, diverged from Kaine significantly in its strategy to keep the state afloat amid the downturn. An equivalent committee in the state Senate also approved a budget plan by a narrow party-line vote that more closely reflects Kaine’s plan.
While committee members preserved the governor’s proposed $42 million in post-Virginia Tech mental health spending, they voted for other cuts and stripped out $75 million intended to bring 17,000 more low-income children under state-funded prekindergarten.
The House Appropriations Committee also reversed course Sunday, proposing to pull $220 million from the reserve, about half as much as Kaine had suggested last week.
Even when the shortfall projections weren’t as intense, Kaine, a Democrat, had drawn the ire of Republicans by proposing to raid the “rainy day” reserve fund to help bridge a $641 million shortfall in the current fiscal year. Opponents assert that tapping the fund could jeopardize the state’s bond rating and should be done only in an emergency.
“The sentiment of many in our committee was that the rainy day fund should not be the first place we look to balance the budget,” said Robert Vaughn, staff director for the House Appropriations Committee.
“The governor has been saying all along that this was the proper circumstance under which to use the reserve fund,” said Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey. “If [House Appropriations Chairman Del. Lacey] Putney agrees, well, all to the good,” he said.
House Republicans also said they restored money Kaine had suggested diverting from transportation and education, and proposed to freeze about a dozen construction projects until the economy rebounds.
