Oregon Public Broadcasting

The budget writing committee in the Oregon Legislature voted Friday on a plan to fill the gap in the current fiscal year’s budget. The plan would raid certain accounts that are designated for other purposes, and funded with user fees.  Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

Here are a couple of examples of what’s being called a "fund sweep":  

$4 million dollars from an account meant to be used to clean up abandoned landfills.

In another example, lawmakers are taking money from the Oregon Cultural Trust… much of it came from people who paid extra to get a special license plate in support of the arts.  

Now $2 million dollars of the $12 million cultural fund is going to other things such as education and public safety.  Like several lawmakers, Republican Senator Fred Girod voted for the plan in committee, but he wasn’t happy about it:  

Sen. Fred Girod:  "There’s a lot of things in there I absolutely do not like.  But when the hammer comes down and you have to make cuts, this is an acceptable way of doing it."

The rest of the budget gap is being filled with a mix of Federal stimulus funds and cuts to state services.