If CARA doesn't happen this year we will be looking for ways to make the legislative package work down the road.

State fish and wildlife agencies are pretty much funding themselves. They do a tremendous job on a shoestring budget, but that is very difficult without a reliable funding source. State agencies get the majority of their funding through hunting license revenues and excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. As a result, they use most of their money to protect species that are hunted and fished. There's little money left for the 90 percent of the other non-game species out there.

The appropriations bill would provide a little over a quarter of the funding that was promised. Our bigger concern is that the program is not mandatory and it does not guarantee annual appropriations, as CARA would have.

At times we played very well and at times we were inconsistent. We still need to work on our passing and defense.

Being a single parent, we work hard for our money. So, we want to make sure we get back as much as we can.

The budget will be driven by cost savings in the administration. We are putting the heat on ourselves to cut the cost of administration of state government.