Lawmakers set second special session to deal with budget

Iowa lawmakers will convene in “special session” May 28th to fix a 400-million dollar hole in the state budget. State tax revenue is lagging, and the budget plans drawn out for the next 14 months need to be pared down. Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack and republican legislative leaders have been meeting privately for the past three weeks, and have agreed to tap into a variety of special state savings accounts to cover the 200-million dollar shortfall in the current state budgeting year, which ends June 30th. There’s no agreement, though, on how to erase just over 200-million dollars of red ink in next year’s budget plan. Vilsack’s challenging republicans to release the details of their budget fix now so everyone can see it and decide if it’s more appropriate.Governor Vilsack wants lawmakers to divert money from the state’s road construction account to cover other state needs. Vilsack says republicans, though, won’t go along with his idea.Quick action’s necessary on this year’s budget to fix a cash flow problem that would have prevented the state from sending out the checks due public schools on June 14th.