The Secretary of State’s offices has released a report showing that the state of Oregon has $3.3 billion just waiting to be spent.
This is odd considering that the Democrats are crying poverty and demanding that taxpayers pass the $733 million tax measures 66 & 67. Here’s the portion of the State Controller’s report:

“As of June 30, 2009, the State’s governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $4.4 billion.  Of this amount, approximately 25.1 percent was reserved for nonspendable items, such as inventories and permanent fund principal, or for specific purposes, such as debt service.  The remainder was classified as unreserved, undesignated fund balance and was available for spending, subject to statutory and constitutional spending constraints.”[1]

So what gives? The Oregon GOP has a helpful suggestion: How about if we use it to fund necessary programs in Oregon so we don’t need to pass these new taxes? Just a thought.

“This is money that has piled up in agencies from over-collected fees and it is revenue that has not been expended as scheduled,” said Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day). “These are taxpayer dollars that should never be left stranded in the bureaucracy, but shifted to pay for services Oregonians need. If we use this money wisely, we can leave the economy to grow and recover.”
Senate Republicans have announced a budget proposal for the February session, saying that there are ways to balance the budget without increasing unemployment or drastically cutting services in the midst of a historic recession.  See an outline of the budget here:
http://www.backtobasicsbudget.com/images/Back_to_Basics_Budget.pdf