Lawmakers reach '09 budget deal

From the Associated Press ...

Georgia lawmakers reached a deal on a $21.2 billion budget that boosts salaries for state employees and funnels money into schools on the chaotic final day of the legislative session. But an agreement on tax cuts was proving a bit more elusive today as weary legislators raced against the clock to consider hundreds of measures in the dying hours of the 40-day session. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said, "I'm an eternal optimist. But I'm cautious." The impasse over tax cuts created a logjam for other high-profile measures, including a new fee to help the state's trauma centers and a sales tax hike to pay for transportation improvements. Republicans pledged to deliver tax relief this election year, but with a few hours left in the session's final day they remained sharply divided over how to do it. The House wanted to eliminate the car tag tax over two years. The Senate pitched a competing plan that would trim the state income tax by 10 percent over five years. Also up in the air were vast changes to the education system, drought-inspired measures to bolster Georgia's reservoir system and a proposal to allow Georgians to carry concealed weapons in more public places. The budget deal removes at least one contentious issue from the table, but both chambers won't get to vote on it until tonight.