While I am very hopeful that we will soon see a resolution to the budget negotiations, progress remains slow. The sticking points, however, have never been clearer. The Senate proposal has no tax increases. If the House accepted the Senate proposal, as is, the session could come to a close and there would be no more speculation about a state-government shutdown beginning in July. The new House budget is a different story. It will not balance without a $570 million tax increase (which increases to $1.3 billion in 2017-19), and there has been no House vote on that tax increase. If the tax increase is not approved, the House budget will collapse – and a budget collapse means a government shutdown.

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