[ Previous Section | Next Section | Contents ]

Selected Departmental Overviews:
Department of Agriculture and Forestry

As debate began on the General Appropriations Bill during the 2000 Regular Legislative Session, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry had $88 million above-the-line funding, or about 77% of the level recommended in the 2001 Executive Budget. An additional $25.2 million was below-the-line at the time, including the Commodities Program, Formosan Termite eradication funding, the Animal Health Program, the Agro-Consumer Services Program, and the Soil and Water Conservation Program.

By the end of the 2000 2^nd Extraordinary Session, the department’s funding had been restored in HB1 to about 90% of the level recommended in the 2001 Executive Budget. The $103.8 million in overall funding for the department had several additional appropriations. These include $2 million for the Formosan Termite Initiative, $1.1 million for the Commodities Program (approximately $967,000 for this program is provided in the base of the budget), and $1 million for the Animal Health Services Program. The Agro-Consumer Services Program and the Soil and Water Conservation Program, two other programs which had once been below-the-line in the governor’s supplementary budget section of HB1 in the regular session, were funded at $3.7 million and $2.4 million respectively.

This department had a loss of 51 T.O. positions.