Leader Chippendale: FY26 Budget/Closing Remarks (61725)

Speaker, as I've done for the past two years that I've been uh minority leader, after we pass a budget, I like to get up and offer comments. And we've heard a lot positive, a lot negative from from members, and I suspect there'll be some more. I want to however focus more on the process as you have speaker and I want to thank you and acknowledge this uh for these two years that I've been doing this and as well this year your office was always open your phone was never unanswered and although you and I didn't agree on this or that it didn't matter because you honored the process the same can be said and will be said and thanks will go to U majority leader uh Chris Bjookski as well as uh Finance Chair Marvin Abney who in dealing with me, the caucus members, and everyone else have been nothing but the utmost uh professional legislators, colleagues, and friends. Um unfortunately, sometimes in this room, we we we take things personally or we don't like this loss or this victory and and we let that guide our actions. uh which is why I'm choosing to speak about the process because I want to accentuate the positive. I also want to thank uh Representative Reed for a very different reason, but I won't get into that. Um Speaker, you and I had some difficult conversations. I made some difficult demands. At the end of the day, I did not support the budget, but I truly respect the way that you manage the budget, the way that you manage the members, the way that you manage each issue. Uh the fact that you will not even entertain anything financially um in the form of legislation without a hearing. Uh your management of the process is unlike anything that I've seen in this house. And again, commendable and worth acknowledgement. Um, I I didn't support the budget and it doesn't make any difference why because the budget is in effect and we will go back to our districts and we will do what we do. We will represent them well. I take no offense to the to the notion that this uh this budget passed even though I didn't agree with it because that's what this process is about. We should be able to get up and disagree. We should be able to have different priorities and we should be able at the end of the day to act like adults and have these difficult discussions and and I think that we were able to do that this year. I felt and I feel that these things were all worth mentioning and all worth acknowledging as we embark on what will undoubtedly become a stretch of very difficult years um budgetarily in in not just the state but in in fact every state in the country. Thank you to all those involved. Thank you to everyone in the chamber. Uh thank you to my uh colleagues, my staff, everyone in the in the room um for honoring the process and honoring this chamber.