3/18/2019 Group Watch: Coming Soon-Session Expectations
The legislature is expected to pass an Education Trust Fund budget, which for the first time ever will exceed $7 billion, and the roughly $2 billion General Fund budget for non-education agencies will remain a top priority. Included in the General Fund budget are major programs like Medicaid, prisons and public safety. Reliable sources say that a constitutional amendment allowing for the creation of a state lottery will be filed, with proceeds being split between the General Fund and Education Trust Fund. Such a proposal, which requires a vote of the people, could provide a revenue stream to address the long-running problems in the prison system as well as the rapidly closing small hospitals across the state.
