House Passes Budget Bill, Setting Everything in Motion for Adjournment Next Week

The state House Tuesday night passed a supplemental budget that sets the wheels in motion for an on-time adjournment next week, and points the way toward a much bigger debate over taxes next year.

The latest version of the House budget, written by Democrats, now stands somewhere in the neighborhood of $240 million. In this form it is substantially different than the one passed by the Senate last week, whacking away at business tax exemptions, counting on new taxes, and enacting a teacher cost-of-living pay raise.