The state budget flew through the Senate in just over a week, and will now be picked over by members of the House of Representatives as legislators work toward reaching a final compromise to present to Gov. Bev Perdue.

Thursday, Sen. Bill Purcell said the speed with which the Senate disposed of its spending plan is unusual.

“Generally, we haven’t even received the governor’s budget by now,” he said from his office in Raleigh. “But this year, we’ve already moved our budget onto the House.”

N.C. Rep. Melanie Wade Goodwin said committees and subcommittees are beginning to meet this week to look at the Senate proposal, but her Appropriations Subcommittee won’t do so until next week.

“We’ve been meeting to get briefings from the different departments our subcommittee oversees since before we went back into session,” Goodwin said. “... But we don’t have a complete picture yet.”

She said that while the House has more members who have to coordinate their ideas than the Senate, the budget process shouldn’t take as long as it did last year.

“I don’t think it will be a lengthy process,” Goodwin said. “We’ve been looking at early to mid-July, though I don’t know if we’ll be able to make that or not, but everybody is poised to be focused on the budget and to limit the other legislation that we consider to only those that are absolutely necessary so that we have the time we need to work on the budget.”

Purcell noted the process of budgeting for Health and Human Services went much as he predicted in previous interviews with the Daily Journal. Many of the cuts came in the form of 182 jobs that are being eliminated. He said many of these positions had not been filled for 180 days.

“There were cuts across the board in the budget, but we did include some things that are needed,” Purcell said.

He pointed to $40 million in funding has been restored for mental health in the Senate version, $14 million for AIDS drugs, $12 million for psychiatric beds in local hospitals.

“So, even with the major cuts, it wasn’t all bad,” Purcell continued. “But we did adopt a $4.3 billion budget, which is a 9 percent reduction from the money we’d budgeted last year for this budget. That works out to about $405 million less.”

Outside of Health and Human Services, Purcell said he was encouraged by tax breaks for small businesses and a lack of cuts in education.

“We’re really concerned about creating jobs, and there are some tax breaks included in this budget for small businesses,” he said. “I think we fully-funded enrollment growth and universities.

The Senate version also gives local school districts the authority to furlough workers, which Purcell said most should be able to endure.

“I think it’s a lot better to give them a two-day furlough and let them keep their benefits than to have to start letting people go,” he said.

Goodwin called the cuts “excruciatingly painful,” and said education is at the top of her list to protect in the budget. She serves on the House’s Education Committee.

“I want to make sure we take care of education, and take care of our teachers and our schools and our children,” Goodwin said. “Because they are our future, and that’s the most important thing.”

She said that while she supports funding for community colleges, which gained about $50 million in the budget, and universities, “we don’t want to support them to the expense of our K-12 schools.”

Goodwin went on to discuss her support of the Senate provision to provide tax breaks for small businesses.

“We want to provide any kind of incentives we can to create jobs,” Goodwin said. “Whether they be with existing businesses or new ones. That has got to be a priority.”

In addition, Goodwin said she hopes to move during this legislative session on “a sweeping ban” on video poker.

“My constituents have voiced their concerns about video poker loud and clear, and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to implement a sweeping ban on the machines during this session,” she said.

Once the House has its own budget proposal, it will have to be reconciled with the Senate version then sent to Gov. Perdue’s desk.

Last year, the first reconciled offering was rejected, which caused the process to last about a month and a half into the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.