Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced what looks to be a competitor to the House’s budget bill. HB7 is the state budget bill. SB 228 is a near mirror image, weighing in at 220 pages. It was filed Friday.

The House creates the state budget bill each session, and Smith said Tuesday that he writes a budget bill on the Senate side every year — just in case.

“We’d only use it in an emergency,” Smith said.

If the Legislature were on the verge of an emergency, it would be this year. Lawmakers are trying to cobble together a state budget for next year that also addresses a budget shortfall of several hundred million dollars. But key lawmakers appear nowhere close to an agreement on how to do that.

Smith, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has been outspoken in his opposition to broad-based tax increases, which the House appears poised to pass as a way of solving next year’s budgetary shortfall.

If one were to use a game to describe where the Legislature is in solving the budget puzzle, this would be the game-of-chicken stage. Who will blink first is the question.

Of course all this maneuvering could be a prelude to serious budget negotiations.

Asked if an emergency might happen this year, Smith said he didn’t know.

He then repeated what he’s said from the beginning of this year’s legislative session. He expected the Legislature to be in Santa Fe this spring for a special session.