Colorado lawmakers – in both houses – appear to have reached a tentative agreement on the state budget, a deal that involves restoring tax exemptions for certain agricultural products and for downloaded software.

However, the agreement does not include any condition that school district employees and local government employees contribute more of their salaries to their pensions, something House Speaker Frank McNulty had been pressing for.

The deal now would decrease gov. John Hickenlooper’s proposed cut to K-12 education from $332 million to $250 million, maintain a general fund reserve of 4 percent, keep at least $100 million in the State Education Fund and transfer about $71 million in severance tax funds to help balance the general fund budget.

Meanwhile, the agreement would partially restore a “vendor fee” benefit given to retailers for collecting state sales tax. The benefit, which is normally 3.3 percent of the sales tax collected, has been suspended during the recession and was set to be reinstated.

Read more at denverpost.com.

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