Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – Indiana House fiscal leaders will release their version of the state's 2013-2014 budget Friday.

House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) says discussions are underway regarding the two-year budget, the one issue that lawmakers must resolve before they adjourn in April. The House’s version of the spending plan is about $1 billion more expansive than the budget proposal submitted by Governor Mike Pence in January.

According to the Associated Press, the budget seeks $562 million more in the first year and $476 million in the second year.

The total $29 billion budget idea does not include the governor’s proposed 10 percent individual income tax cut. However, it does contain a variety of other tax cut options, including a quicker repeal of the state inheritance tax, which lawmakers voted in 2012 to phase out over the next 10 years.

The budget proposal also restores a good chunk of the funding for education that was cut during the recession, spending about $63 million more per year on K-12 schooling than Pence’s budget allows. Road projects would get increased funding, as well.

More details of the House budget proposal could be given Friday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Tim Brown. The Indiana Senate will get its chance to work on the budget later this month.

LINKS:

Pence's Budget Gives Tax Cut, Small Ed. Boost