No Budget yet...Act 3.1

UPDATE 2:45pm
We are only hearing rumors at this point of good news. Stay tuned for annoucements and alerts. We hope that they will have a printed budget this afternoon.

UPDATE 8:35Am
It is said that they have finally agreed on budget numbers and have handed it off their their budget staff to balance and print. Many believe that it takes around 8 hours to work this part of the process, but no one is willing at this point to suggest a time. No word yet on which version they have agreed on for the waiting lists. We will know something sometime today.

Newspapers are beginning to mention that the Consitution requires the legislature to approve a budget...not a good sign. Last night the House and Senate began to show movement on the budget, raising hopes around 3pm that a budget would be presented that evening. However, even with significant progress, there remains by differing accounts 200-300 items still on the table for discussion, leaving a long and hard road ahead of them today. While, the AccessNorthGa.com reports that

a logjam between the House and the Senate over the spending plan for fiscal year 2007 has apparently been broken, although disagreements remain. Sen. Bill Stephens, who sits on the conference committee working on the budget, said lawmakers had backed away from the brink and the budget work should be completed Thursday. "Today we are working on numbers," said Stephens, R-Canton. Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson said negotiations could go well into the day on Friday, which could mean a late night for lawmakers who are also taking up a full calendar of bills, from one dealing with eminent domain to another cracking down on sex offenders.

It has been a back room process this year, leaving advocates to only wonder about their progress. James Salzer wrote in the AJC that

House and Senate budget negotiators met for about 10 minutes Tuesday in front of a throng of lobbyists, journalists and agency officials and then went behind closed doors to consider what to do about more than 300 differences between the budgets approved by the two chambers. Typically, negotiators meet several times a day in public, formally agreeing to changes so those with a stake in how the state spends its tax revenue know what's going on. The Legislature is exempt from state open meetings laws, but it has usually observed some degree of openness on the budget at the end of the session. But not this time.

Salzer quotes the Capitol's most respected legislator on historical matters, Senator Georgia Hooks, Americus-D saying that

some deals have always been cut behind closed doors by Senate or House leaders or appropriations committee chairmen. But they were formally agreed to in open meetings, in part so agency officials, concerned lobbyists and members of the public were aware of what was going on. Even when budgets have been approved in the closing minutes of a session, at least some discussion had gone on in public. "We've come in there and passed the budget at 11:30 at night, but it was not good policy," he said. "The people need to know what we're doing."

We will be down there watching and waiting...check back here often for the latest news.

Next steps? After the budget is finalized, we will need you to write thank you letters to your legislators...