The House GOP caucus is worried about state tax revenues, according to Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, and discussed the issue at length in its closed-door caucus today, which ran for an hour. "There's certainly some cautionary approaches that we're going to take," Roberts said. "We're trying to get the caucus and the legislators to understand that there may be more significant reduction measures than what we're hearing from the agencies now."

Of particular concern, he said, is the governor's inclusion of $33 million that state tax revenues were running ahead as of November into his budget calculations, when December's figures showed that figure dropping. Said House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, R-Oakely, "The governor had to shut the suitcase and go with what he had. ... We're still going to wait before we do the big stuff ... (until) the January numbers are in."