[' ', 'WY-', 'State', 'budget', 'squeezes', 'lawmakers', 'in', 'midsession', 'CHARLESTON,', 'W.Va.', '(AP)', 'Of', 'the', '1,335', 'bills', 'introduced', 'during', 'the', 'first', 'half', 'of', 'the', "Legislature's", 'annual', '60-day', 'session,', 'only', 'one', 'is', 'required', 'by', 'state', 'law.', '_', ';', 'The', "govertior's", 'proposed', 'budget,', 'which', 'traditionally', 'is', 'introduced', 'the', 'first', 'day', 'of', 'the', 'session,', 'is', 'presenting', 'lawmakers', 'with', 'their', 'toughest', 'problems.', 'The', 'US,', 'economy', 'continues', 'to', 'roll,', 'but', 'the', 'good', 'times', 'are', 'fading', 'in', 'West', 'Virginia,', 'pressing', 'legislators', 'to', 'rework', 'Gov.', 'Cecil', "Underwood's", 'proposed', '$2.7', 'billion', 'budget', 'without', 'a', 'tax', 'increase', 'or', 'cuts', 'in', 'politically', 'popular', 'programs.', "“It's", 'as', 'dark', 'as', 'the', 'days', 'in', '1989', 'and', '1990,"', 'House', 'Speaker', 'Bob', 'Kiss', 'said,', 'referring', 'to', 'a', 'time', 'when', 'revenues', 'fell', 'far', 'short', 'of', 'estimates', 'and', 'lawmakers', 'were', 'forced', 'to', 'impose', 'millions', 'in', 'new', 'taxes', 'to', 'make', 'the', 'state', 'solvent.', 'A', 'tax', 'increase', 'this', 'year', 'is', 'out,', 'according', 'to', 'a', 'recent', 'survey', 'of', 'lawmakers', 'by', 'The', 'Associated', 'Press.', 'i', '*', 'Eighty', 'of', 'the', '100', 'members', 'of', 'the', 'House', 'of', 'Delegates', 'and', '30', 'of', 'the', '34', 'senators', 'said', 'they', 'would', 'oppose', 'a', 'tax', 'increase,', 'Still,', 'Kiss', 'gently', 'held', 'the', 'door', 'open', 'to', 'the', 'possibility', 'that', '2000', 'will', 'be', 'the', 'last', 'year', 'lawmakers', 'refuse', 'to', 'raise', 'taxes.', '.', ';', '“A', 'function', 'of', 'this', "Legislature's", 'commitment', 'is', 'that', 'for', 'seven', 'years,', "there's", 'been', 'no', 'tax', 'increase,"', 'Kiss,', 'D-Raleigh,', 'said', 'at', 'a', ':', 'recent', 'meeting', 'of', 'the', 'West', 'Virginia', 'Chamber', 'of', 'Commerce.', "*'It", 'may', 'not', 'last', 'forever,', 'not', 'that', "I'm", 'advocating', 'it.', 'I', "don't", 'see', 'it', 'happening', 'this', 'year,', 'but', 'we', 'need', 'to', 'be', 'very', 'conservative', 'in', 'our', 'budgeting', 'in', 'the', 'next', 'few', 'years."', '‘', '{Lawmakers', 'must', 'plug', 'a', '$162', 'million', 'budget', 'hole', 'in', 'the', 'Public', '+', 'Employees', 'Instirance', 'Agency', 'by', '2004', 'and', 'find', '$51', 'million', 'this', 'year', 'to', 'finance', 'the', 'third', 'and', 'final', 'annual', 'pay', 'raise', 'for', 'state', 'employees', 'and', 'teachers,', '|', 'Legislators', 'will', 'not', 'slice', 'into', 'other', 'programs', 'to', 'find', 'the', '.', 'money,', 'said', 'House', 'Finance', 'Chairman', 'Harold', 'Michael.', "“It's", 'difficult', 'to', 'cut', 'programs,"', 'said', 'Michael,', 'D-Hardy.', '“Everybody', 'has', 'a', 'constituency', 'group', 'out', 'there', 'that', 'adamantly', 'opposes', 'cuts.', 'One', 'solution', 'would', 'be', 'to', 'use', '$57', 'million', 'from', 'the', 'national', 'tobacco', 'settlement,', 'he', 'said.', 'Senate', 'Finance', 'Chairman', 'Oshel', 'Craigo', 'said', 'lawmakers', 'may', 'find', 'a', 'way', 'to', 'circumvent', 'legislation', 'enacted', 'last', 'year', 'specifying', 'how', 'that', 'money', 'should', 'be', 'spent:', 'Craigo,', 'D-Puinam,', 'said', 'revenue', 'can', 'be', 'shifted.', "‘It's", 'just', 'moving', 'it', 'around,"', 'he', 'said.', ';', 'Such', 'a', 'plan', 'would', 'anger', 'public', 'health', 'advocates', 'who', 'want', 'tobacco', 'nt', 'money', 'to', 'pay', 'for', 'efforts', 'to', 'curb', 'smoking', 'among', 'young', 'people.', 'At', 'Capital', 'High', 'School', 'in', 'Charleston,', 'a', 'survey', 'found', 'that', '42', '‘', '.', 'percent', 'of', 'teens', 'smoke,', 'said', 'Angie', 'Cavender,', 'a', 'school', 'nurse.', 'Some', '‘', 'started:the', 'habit', 'when', 'they', 'were', 'as', 'young', 'as', '10,', 'she', 'said.', ' ', ' ', '‘', '6zLOLSegoz', '“We', 'have', 'to', 'change', 'the', 'culture', 'and', 'that', 'takes', 'time,"', 'she', 'said.', 'Some', 'lawmakers', 'believe', 'the', 'settlement', 'money', 'should', 'not', 'be', 'used', 'this', 'year', 'because', 'a', 'federal', 'lawsuit', 'says', 'the', 'money', 'should', 'go', 'to', 'those', 'with', 'smoking-related', 'illnesses', 'and', 'their', 'survivors,', 'More', 'trouble', 'can', 'be', 'found', 'in', 'the', 'economic', 'data', 'that', 'accompanied', "Underwood's", 'budget,', 'In', 'the', 'early', '1990s,', 'job', 'growth', 'averaged', '1,9', 'percent', 'annually,', 'but', 'slowed', 'to', '1.4', 'percent', 'in', 'the', 'second', 'half', 'of', 'the', 'decade,', 'according', 'to', 'the', 'Bureau', 'of', 'Business', 'and', 'Economic', 'Research', 'at', 'West', 'Virginia', 'University.', 'Incomes', 'of', 'West', 'Virginians', 'increased', 'by', '4.6', 'percent', 'a', 'year', 'in', 'the', 'early', 'part', 'of', 'the', 'decade,', 'but', 'have', 'slowed', 'to', 'a', '3.6', 'percent', 'rise', 'since', '1995,', 'The', 'state', 'continues', 'to', 'struggle', 'with', 'declines', 'in', 'coal', 'mining', 'and', 'some', 'manufacturing', 'industries', 'as', 'officials', 'try', 'to', 'diversify', 'the', 'economy,', 'said', 'George', 'Hammond,', 'director', 'of', 'the', 'Bureau', 'of', 'Business', 'and', 'Economic', 'Research.', "‘It's", 'just', 'something', 'that', 'takes', 'time.', 'In', 'the', 'long', 'run,', 'it', 'will', 'pay', 'off,"', 'he', 'said,', 'Revenue', 'is', 'projected', 'to', 'be', 'off', 'by', 'about', '$15', 'million', 'by', 'the', 'end', 'of', 'the', 'fiscal', 'year', 'ending', 'June', '30,', 'according', 'to', 'the', 'state', 'Department', 'of', 'Tax', 'and', 'Revenue.', 'That', 'would', 'rob', 'lawmakers', 'of', 'a', 'financial', 'cushion', 'they', 'have', 'grown', 'used', 'to,', 'a', 'cushion', 'provided', 'by', 'rising', 'revenue', 'in', 'a', 'strong', 'economy.', 'Reduced', 'coal', 'production,', 'higher', 'tax', 'credits', 'for', 'power', 'plant', 'investments', 'in', 'environmental', 'protection', 'equipment', 'and', 'one-time', '5', 'corporate', 'accounting', 'changes', 'are', 'causing', 'the', 'drop,', 'Projections', 'call', 'for', 'corporate', 'income', 'taxes', 'to', 'be', 'down', 'by', '$15', 'million', 'from', 'last', 'year,', 'severance', 'taxes', 'off', 'by', '$13', 'million', 'and', ':', 'business', 'and', 'occupation', 'taxes', 'reduced', 'by', '$9', 'million,', 'said', 'Mark', 'Muchow,', 'research', 'director', 'at', 'the', 'tax', 'department.', 'The', 'losses', 'are', 'expected', 'to', 'be', 'partially', 'offset', 'by', 'rising', 'personal', 'income', 'tax', 'revenue', 'due', 'to', 'strong', 'capital', 'gains', 'powered', 'by', 'the', 'stock', 'market.', '.', 'A', 'downturn', 'in', 'revenue', 'is', 'coupled', 'with', 'uncertainty', 'about', 'the', 'future', 'of', 'mining', 'in', 'West', 'Virginia', 'following', 'a', 'federal', "court's", 'Oct.', '20', 'ruling', 'striking', 'down', 'some', 'mountaintop', 'removal', 'mining', 'practices.', 'The', 'court', 'decision', 'is', 'being', 'appealed', 'by', 'the', 'state', 'Division', 'of', 'Environmental', 'Protection.', 'And', 'like', 'the', 'economic', 'projections,', "Michael's", 'outlook', 'for', 'puiting', 'together', 'a', 'budget', 'is', 'bleak.', '-', '“Every', 'year', 'is', 'progressively', 'more', 'difficult,"', 'he', 'said.', 'Copyright', '(c)', '2000', 'The', 'Associated', 'Press', 'Received', 'by', 'NewsEDGE/LAN:', '2/10/00', '12:24', 'AM', '-20-', 'FEB', '1', '1', '2000']