Legislators managed to patch a $354 million hole in the budget without tapping into a $414 million Rainy Day Fund and $100 million set aside for school programs - funds kept aside for hard economic times.
"All things said and done at this point, I think it was a pretty good outcome," said Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. He said the reserve funds and decision not to bond leaves the state plenty of options for navigating rough waters ahead.
House Majority Leader Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, said that leaves the state on sound footing should the economy worsen during the next year, as he anticipates.
Legislators entered the special session needing to make up for an $81 million shortfall in last year's revenues, and find a way to pay for a $272 million projected revenue shortfall in the current year.
They did that by requiring 4 percent cuts from every state agency, then replaced a quarter of the cut for many state agencies with money that will disappear at the end of the fiscal year.
Public education is in a similar situation. Lawmakers replaced 3 percent of the education funds, nearly $75 million in all, with money that expires at the end of the year, meaning reductions will have to be found during the next session, which convenes in January, after legislators' re-election campaigns.
During negotiations with legislative leaders, Huntsman was able to reverse proposed cuts that would have cut 5,600 pregnant women off of Medicaid health benefits. But the Health Department estimates that more than 19,000 people who now receive vision, physical therapy, speech therapy and other benefits from Medicaid will have their services eliminated as a result of the budget cuts.
"This is absolutely going to be very, very difficult for a lot of people," said Rep. Paul Neuenschwander, R-Bountiful. "We can congratulate ourselves for what we've done, but in some instances people are going to bleed over it."
The agreement between Huntsman and lawmakers also saved about a dozen of the 44 vacant prison guard positions scheduled to be eliminated, and restored staffing for the governor's energy adviser.
Lawmakers had axed the three staffers in the energy adviser's office in a move Huntsman said was "a little political ding." Huntsman's participation in the Western Climate Initiative and recent announcement of the state's participation in a cap-and-trade plan has irritated some lawmakers.
The House passed the revised budget with 15 Democrats voting against the proposal.
"I'm disappointed in the process," said Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay. "The minority party was excluded. I think there was too much attention given to protecting roads and not enough to protecting people. I'd rather pay more attention to people than asphalt and concrete."
