BUDGET WATCH

With last week’s passage of a stopgap measure to keep state government operating and the holiday weekend behind them, legislators returned to Raleigh this week. Almost all committee activity was put on hold in an effort to free budget negotiators to work toward resolution of differences. The hope is that a budget can be agreed upon before the expiration of provisions of H1630, the bill enacted to continue governmental operations. Hope, said the poet, springs eternal; but realism is more functional in the General Assembly.