Overall Budget Target Reached.  The Governor and legislative leadership have agreed on the overall budget target for the supplemental appropriations bill.  The budget target for the remainder of this biennium is $293 million, with a "tails" target of $883.5 million (sum of future commitments as a result of new current year spending).  This amount strikes a compromise between the House supplemental budget amount ($321 million), the Senate ($203 million), and the Governor ($165 million), with the balance clearly tipping toward the House amount.  No idea of the target amounts for individual budget areas, but there was discussion this evening in the conference committee with the House making its case for its position of a 1% increase in the basic formula and the Senate defending its position calling for a $10 million increase in the amount dedicated to the early childhood scholarship program established last year.

So stay tuned.  The conference committee has been directed to finish its work by Sunday evening, meaning its likely to be a hectic weekend ahead.