BUDGET TARGETS (Part of an AP story)
Budget subcommittee leaders have received spending targets they must meet to work out differences between competing House and Senate spending plans. The chief budget-writers for both chambers gave out the marching orders to the subcommittees and told them to report back next week with recommendations. Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, co-chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, want the lawmakers to remain on schedule so that a final plan can be voted on and sent to Gov. Beverly Perdue before July 1. The targets essentially split the difference between the House and Senate plans on education spending but is closer to the Senate plan on the categories of health and human services and justice and public safety. Those areas alone comprise nearly 90 percent of spending in state government.
