Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Revenue Projections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Joint committee adopts FY2025 revenue forecast; debate continues and FY2026 vote postponed
Summary
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee adopted the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee's FY2025 general fund revenue projection but failed to reach agreement on a FY2026 revenue number and deferred that decision.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) voted unanimously to adopt the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee (EORAC) recommended general fund revenue projection for fiscal year 2025.
Senator Woodward moved the motion to set the FY2025 general fund revenue projection at $5,990,000,000, and the motion was seconded. During roll call, the committee recorded 10 ayes from the Senate delegation and 10 ayes from the House delegation for a 20–0 vote. Chairman Groh announced, "The majority having voted in the affirmative from both house and senate. This motion passes."
Members then turned to fiscal year 2026 revenue. The committee heard competing proposals: the EORAC recommendation (a $6.4 billion projection), the governor's recommended number shown in materials (about $6.261 billion, which the governor's office presented as a more pessimistic balancing number), and a compromise substitute proposed by Senator Woodward at $6.33 billion.
Representative Petsky initially moved to adopt the EORAC recommendation for FY2026, and Senator Woodward offered a substitute motion at $6.33 billion. Committee members debated the difference between a conservative number and a higher projection, with advocates for the higher figure citing historical upside to baseline estimates and advocates for the lower figure arguing for caution. Several members characterized the compromise as a path forward.
After voting on the substitute and on the original motion, the committee failed to secure a majority from both houses on either option. The clerk announced the final result: "Therefore, the substantive motion has failed. We move to the original motion... However, since we failed to get a majority of both houses here in the JFAC, the original motion fails, and we will then postpone our voting on this to another time in the future." The committee deferred the FY2026 revenue decision to a later date.
Ending — With the FY2025 revenue projection adopted, staff and members said the maintenance and agency-setting work will proceed against the FY2025 baseline. The FY2026 revenue number remained unfinalized and will be taken up at a later meeting before agency budgets that depend on that figure are set.
