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Lawmakers say potential federal changes – something like altering the tax code or significant health care reform – could dramatically change the state's economic forecast.
Barbara BrosherTop fiscal lawmakers say the potential impact of Donald Trump’s proposed reforms could upend the new state budget they’ll write early next year.
Budget-writing lawmakers received a new economic forecast earlier this month; that helps provide guidance as they determine how much money they can spend in the next two-year state budget.
But House Ways and Means Chair Tim Brown acknowledges that potential federal changes – something like altering the tax code or significant health care reform – could dramatically change the picture. And so, he says, House Republicans will put together a task force to monitor and evaluate federal legislation.
“And I think we’d have time to analyze it and get back for a short session,” Brown says.
Senate Appropriations Chair Luke Kenley says he’s especially watching for changes to the tax code, which he notes federal legislators seem eager to embrace.
“So maybe that makes this economic forecast a little more viable," Kenley says, "even though it’s a little rosier than I thought it was going to be.”
A national analyst who provided an economic forecast to state lawmakers admitted he didn’t include potential federal reforms in his outlook, because they were too uncertain.
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