LINCOLN -- Gov. Dave Heineman has ruled out the need for an immediate special session of the Nebraska Legislature to cut state spending, but cautioned that lagging state tax receipts bear watching.
During a Wednesday press conference at the State Capitol, the governor said that the state has no cash flow problems. State lawmakers likely can wait until they return in January for the 2011 regular session to address a revenue shorfall for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which ended June 30, he said.
"It will depend very much on what happens with receipts over the next few months," Heineman said. "We're going to watch this very closely."
Last week, a dismal report on state tax receipts from June left the state receiving $76 million less in state taxes than anticipated for the entire fiscal year.
That prompted Omaha Sen. Heath Mello to say that immediate action was needed.
Heineman repeated Wednesday that the state faces "a bumpy road" in recovering from the recession, but still gains envy from other governors due to its 4.9 percent unemployment rate, which ranked third lowest in the country in May.
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