Governor takes budget action

state workers will most likely have some unpaid time off. today governor richardson announced som...  More »

state workers will most likely have some unpaid time off. today governor richardson announced some of his own steps to deal with the state's 650-million dollar revenue shortfall. they include five unpaid days off for most state employees. the governor also announced he's eliminating 84 political appointed positions... and he's getting rid of another 1- thousand state jobs that en't filled right now. stuart dyson is live at the state capitol with more in tonight's top story. furloughs for 19 thousand state employees - five days off without pay - that amounts to a two percent pay cut as the state tries to fill that gaping 650 million dollar hole in the budget. bill richardson never did like the way state lawmakers cut state agency spending by 7 point 6 percent across the board when they met in special session last month. so today he hauled out his veto pen and wiped out those cuts - replacing them with his own smaller cuts under executive order. " we are cutting state spending by an average of 7% - the difference between the measure i vetoed and my executive order is that i considered previous cuts and took a targeted more responsible approach." he says now prisons won't have to close - sending convicts back to the streets - state parks will remain open - welfare health care for kids won't dwindle away after all - then there are those five day no pay furloughs. " i don't want layoffs - i don't want people to lose their jobs - we focus on furloughs - i think they're more humane - they're more practical - we're not at a stage where we need to lay people off."  « Less