The House late last night finally passed a deficit reduction bill, which will be considered by the Senate early next week. The good news is that, in no small measure as a result of the energetic advocacy efforts of many of you, the House bill continues funding for the Humanities Council's Cultural Heritage Development Fund at present levels. It also contains no budget reductions for the Historical Commission and in restoring jobs to the 2,600 state workers laid off in January, brings two badly needed staff people back to the Commission.

The bad news is that the Governor has promised to veto the bill if it reaches his desk in its present form, a development that will bring us back to square one with both heritage appropriations potentially again in play. Whether changes can or will be made in the Senate to make the House bill more palatable to the Governor, and whether our twin heritage appropriations will again become part of that discussion is at this point impossible to determine. We'll keep you posted as these negotiations proceed.

In the interim, please familiarize yourself with this website and its resources. It contains advice on lobbying, contact information on all legislators, fact sheets on the work of the two CHC's, information searchable by town on CHDF awards made in your district over the years, and information on the economic significance of those projects. All of this should be useful to you in the advocacy campaigns that undoubtedly lie ahead.

Remember that this current round of discussions is devoted to deficit reduction in the state's CURRENT fiscal year ending June 30th. Once this issue is settled, the legislature will move to determine a budget for the state's NEXT fiscal year, beginning July 1. A critical point in that process will come later in the month when the Governor's delivers his budget address. How he treats the two CHC's in that document will largely determine what battles we have to wage in the months ahead.