SALEM - A Senate panel, trying to spur House action on a proposal to build a reserve with unexpected state revenue instead of returning it to taxpayers, approved a second version of the measure Monday.

The move was the only formal action on budget-related issues Monday.

The Senate in June passed a proposed ballot measure that would revise the so-called kicker law. It has since languished in a House committee.

Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, said Senate backers of the idea crafted a slightly different version as part of a bipartisan revenue-raising package that was announced by Senate leaders on Friday.

Hearings on the package, which includes abut $800 million in tax increases, tentatively were to begin Tuesday, Deckert said.

The Senate proposal includes $1.4 billion in new revenue, on top of the $10.4 billion already available, compared with almost $1.2 billion in added revenue in a House-passed plan.

The new version, Senate Joint Resolution 18, now goes to the full Senate. It's almost identical to the earlier measure except it would be on the ballot in the May 2004 primary election instead of the November general election.

The 1979 kicker law says when revenue at the end of a two-year budget period is at least 2 percent higher than what state economists had forecast, the refund requirement "kicks" in and all the surplus must be returned to taxpayers.

Because voters put the kicker law in the state constitution in 2000, it can't be changed without voter approval.

Critics say the law prevents the state from building a reserve to help in difficult times like the budget crisis the state has faced the past two years.

The proposed ballot measure would funnel any money more than 1 percent above the forecast figure into a rainy day fund until the reserves equaled 10 percent of the budget. That would amount to about $1.1 billion under current figures.

Once the 10 percent threshold was reached, any extra revenue would go back to taxpayers.

A competing proposal being considered by a House panel would allow income tax revenue to increase by 5 percent from one two-year budget period to the next.

When revenue topped that amount, 40 percent would go back to taxpayers, 40 percent would be put in a rainy-day fund and 20 percent would be kept in the general budget for education and other state programs.

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On The Net:

Senate Joint Resolution 18, House Joint Resolution 54

www.leg.state.or.us