After businesses rejected original state budget bill, legislators go to work

After businesses across the state joined together to decry the initial state budget proposal, the legislature had listened and headed back to redraft another budget.

“We have a budget deficit projected at $525 million and that's the money we're trying to gain to balance the budget,” said State Representative Henry Burns, R-Haughton. “We're out there looking for money.”

The original plan, he said, addressed the budget deficit with an increase in taxes, the majority of which fell on large businesses.

As of Thursday evening, it has since been modified and 70 percent of that plan was eliminated.