Provision added late Monday would translate into a larger UA budget cut

University administrators will have to find almost $1 million more to return to the state if a provision in the state budget passes by the governor this week.

In the new budget that is likely to pass both houses of the Legislature today or tomorrow, all state agencies are required to cut an additional 0.25 percent of their state-allocated funds.

In the University of Arizona's case, this figure translates to just more than $850,000, which would bring the university's total cut for this year to approximately $16.7 million.

"It's better than the half-percent cut the House was proposing, and we have no hope of avoiding it," said UA lobbyist Greg Fahey.

Fahey added that it is considered certain that Hull will pass this provision.

In fact, getting by with a cut that amounts to 0.25 percent for the UA is better news than expected, said Joel Valdez, senior vice president of business affairs, and Randy Richardson, vice president for undergraduate education.

Richardson said UA President Peter Likins' cabinet has not decided whether to make the cuts across-the-board or target them at specific university units.

Late Monday afternoon, legislators also re-added a provision to cut funding for vacant UA positions in half, but they expect the governor to line-item veto that provision later this week.

If Gov. Jane Dee Hull were to sign the budget without a line-item veto, UA could face more than a 10 percent - or $35 million - cut in state funding, depending upon how many UA employees leave their jobs beginning this summer.

But Sen. Ruth Solomon said Hull's veto is in the bag and that the provision was merely added at the request of House Speaker Jim Weiers, enabling him to symbolically hold the Republican line by limiting government spending.

"Hull will absolutely veto (the provision)" said Solomon, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Francie Noyes, spokeswoman for the governor, disagrees.

She said Hull has yet to decide what to do with any specific provisions in the state budget, including the provision for vacant positions.

Furthermore, Hull's line-item veto is reserved for numbers in the budget, not language or policy decisions like reduced funding in the vacant position provision, Noyes said.

The matter will likely be settled this week, if lawmakers get the state budget to Hull today as planned.

Both the House and Senate are simultaneously moving nearly identical bills through in hopes of getting the 2002 state budget finished and moving on to fiscal year 2003, which starts in July.