Senator Eric Griego, an Albuquerque Democrat, has made a proposal that avoids cuts to public schools and higher education, if legislators will simply choose “people over pork,” he said. His proposal was made available to press watching the Senate floor debate. It was contrasted with an executive branch counter proposal, on a document titled “Solvency Scenarios.” Griego was assisted with his analysis by the Legislative Finance Committee.

Griego’s proposal includes 3.5 percent cuts to state agencies, but not schools,  for a total of $74.3 million in savings.

The proposal uses all of the education stimulus funds, for $93.2 million. Another $136 million would come from shifting dollars from bonding capacity to the general fund, as a very short term solution. There would be a “sweep” of unused dollars from various funds, for roughly $125.6 million.

Then, $170.1 million would be found by voiding unused capital outlay funds, which Griego called choosing “people over pork.” The total of Griego’s proposal amounts to $599.2 million in cuts.

“Do we want pork, or do we want students to have what they need,” Griego asked. “One option is two percent cuts to eduction, and higher cuts to all other agencies. We can avoid those education cuts though, if we just choose people over the pork.”

The executive counter proposal contrasted with Griego’s plan has a slightly smaller cut to state agencies–$71.3 million–plus $35.4 million from public schools and $15.5 million from higher education.

The proposal uses all of education stimulus funds, for $93.2 million, and $180 million from the use of bonding capacity. Then, it sweeps $90.3 million from various funds, draws $21.3 million from a delay in ERB and RHCA funds, and pulls back $110 million in unused capital outlay funds.

The total executive branch proposal shown in contrast with Griego’s proposal amounts to cuts of $617 million.