Session musings. (Editorial).

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, the special session to deal with the state's budget over the next two years probably will be under way. Already there's speculation over whether the legislators will be as acrimonious as when the extended 94-day regular session ended last month.

Frankly, we're not sure what has happened in the past couple of weeks to make it any less of a fight. And it could be worse since the Department of Finance and Administration has added to the expected budget shortfall for this fiscal year, which ends in June.

We wonder if any of the legislators have ever heard that politics is the art of compromise. For the sake of the state, we hope they learn soon.

Although the issues that will be included in the call for the session have not been announced, it was apparent in the regular session that there was a lack of legislative leadership on many of the major issues.

What we've been hearing and reading about during the cooling off period is how some legislators are telling the people in their districts that it's the others who are to blame for the impasse. Unless that kind of attitude changes, it's hard to see any compromise coming quickly.

Somehow, this muddled group of legislators must come up with a budget, even if it doesn't please everyone. No one wants their taxes increased, but we don't think anyone wants to see vital state services, such as Medicaid funding, cut back either.

In addition to helping people, every dollar the state spends on Medicaid brings an additional $3 in federal matching funds to the Arkansas economy. Cutting Medicaid is the worst kind of mistake. And we're persuaded that most of the true waste in state government has already fallen under the knife; what's left to cut is a question of political philosophy. But unless we change the definitions of what we expect from state government, the state will come up short by $220 million a year over the next two years.

And that doesn't include what it will cost to fix the public schools in the state so that they are adequate and equitable as mandated by the state Supreme Court. That is likely to take on several hundred million a year. But then, that battle is for another session, probably in September.

As the regular session drew to a close, the legislators were trying to rush through a tobacco tax increase. A compromise 15 percent hike seems likely.

The big budget fight will be over how to use the state's General Improvement Fund. One group of lawmakers wants to use the $40 million fund to meet pressing statewide needs and cover the Medicaid budget shortfall during a time when the slowed economy has reduced revenue.

Others say the one-time money shouldn't be spent on recurring state programs. They argue that a tax increase is the best way to solve the budget shortfall. Those opposed don't want to put new taxes on their constituents when legislators aren't willing to give up the fun of handing out checks for one-time capital improvement projects in their home districts.

There will be a lot of pressure from various sides. With what's at stake, it's time for the lawmakers to become leaders and come to some agreement, or compromise, to prevent shutting down chunks of the state government.