Both the House and the Senate have introduced their versions, and now they have to come to a compromise.
Because of the similarities between the Senate and House versions of the budget, Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas) says a compromise should be quickly reached.
"It is very unusual to be that close," he said. "But the reason that it’s that close is because we had that gap that we utilized in a constructive way and talked, met with those people over the last two or three weeks. Now there’s a little difference, but of the conferences that I’ve been involved with, this’ll be the closest of any over time."
Neither the House or the Senate budgets differs dramatically from Gov. Manchin’s proposed budget. Manchin’s budget reduces spending by about $197 million, but all but $31 million of those cuts have been replaced with federal stimulus money.
The Legislature technically has until June 6 to pass the budget, but Helmick says he doesn’t expect them to need that much time.
"We will be finished up by Saturday and probably sign off on it on Sunday," he said. "No later than that."
After the budget passes, the Governor plans to call a special session, where he will attempt to reintroduce several bills that died during the regular session.
So far, he’s mentioned 17 bills that could be on the special agenda, but the final list will likely contain around a dozen bills.
Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) says the governor promised not to put any controversial bills on the agenda in the interest of time.
"The governor sets the call, but he sent a list up of what he’s considering," Chafin said. "But he also met with the leadership and said, 'unless there’s a consensus, I don’t want to keep people here all summer or extend the time period.'
"For example, the 180-day calendar bill. That’s very contentious and apparently they can’t reach an agreement on it, so I don’t expect it to be on the call."
Conference committees made up of both House and Senate members met on Thursday, and each body may vote on the budget bill as soon as this weekend.