• “Logrolling” is a budgeting technique whereby spending items favored by one legislative chamber are added during conference budget negotiations. This study reverses that practice by accepting the lower of the two chambers’ previously approved figures for each department, as well as the higher of the two chambers’ previously approved fund transfers. This is referred to as “Reverse Logrolling.”
• The Reverse Logrolling applied to the current state budget would result in a General Fund budget of $20.6 billion in the first year and $20.8 in the second, leaving surpluses of approximately $590 million in the first year and $940 million in the second year without tax reform adjustments.
• Reverse Logrolling before the incorporation of tax reform allows legislators more flexibility when discussing state revenue and the intensity of tax cuts available.
• As House and Senate leaders negotiate a final budget package for FY2013-15, the two driving forces are the ever-growing Medicaid shortfall and tax reform proposals.
by Sarah Curry
Director of Fiscal Policy Studies
