Ways and Means panel adopts annual revenue baseline; projects roughly $14.1 billion in recurring general fund revenue

The Full Ways and Means Committee adopted "Serial 1," the committee's annual revenue baseline, and received staff projections that will guide this year's budget work. "The BA has projected approximately 14,100,000,000.0 in recurring general fund revenue," the chair said, adding the estimate includes roughly $900,000,000 in new revenue and other reserves.

Serial 1, the document the committee uses to set its revenue assumptions, was presented as available on member tablets and described as the technical instruction set for preparing bills and grants. The chair outlined other line items in the projection: about $387,000,000 for the capital reserve fund, $726,000,000 in the contingency reserve fund and approximately $600,000,000 undesignated for fiscal year 2024–25; the speaker summarized the stated total as $1,700,000,000 for those reserve/undesignated figures. The speaker characterized these figures as approximate.

Committee leadership framed the projections as setting the table for budget tradeoffs. The chair said the largest pressures on the projected revenue are tax cuts, roads and infrastructure, and health care — items that will claim substantial portions of available funds and tighten the range for other priorities.

After the baseline discussion, a member moved to adopt Serial 1 and the committee approved it by voice vote. The chair said members may pull individual provisos for later discussion; pulled items will be considered at the next meeting and spreadsheets and any provisos that involve dollar changes are slated for consideration the following day.

Next steps: committee staff will proceed under the Serial 1 revenue assumptions while members work through any pulled provisos at future meetings.