Money blog:

Still no agreement between the House and Senate on the state budget. The clock is ticking toward a 6 p.m. deadline for bills to advance.

The conference committee on House Bill 2012 recessed for an eighth time this morning. Lawmakers will reconvene at 4:30 p.m.

While conferrees have agreed on the operating portion of the budget — at about $11 billion — they’ve reached an impasse on the capital improvements side of the budget.

Senate Ways and Means Chair David Ige on Friday morning expanded on five investments the Senate wants to see included in the budget, calling the proposal a $500 million “economic accelerator package.” 

“We’ve been working on a number of things, and we do believe that it should contain five components,” Ige said.

“The first really is about advancing R and M (repair and maintenance) to really create jobs immediately.

“The second focus is really on diversification and enhancing film and digital media credits, looking to really enhance the state’s visitor marketing through film and digital media.

“The third point really is strategic investments in our core visitor industry by expanding opportunities for international visitors as well as maximizing the synergy between toursim and film.

“And the fourth piece of it really is enhancing and accelerating the partnership (with) the car rental industry by really appropriating revenue bonds so we can accelerate that project.

“Five hundred million so we can initiate those projects as soon as possible.

“And then the fifth and most important point is really investment in our social infrastructure by providing needed funds for nonprofits and other safety net services.

“And when we look at all of these items and we roll it into our financial plan, we do show an ending balance — over $200 million, which I think is adequate to move forward. … We do think this is a very, very important session in terms of making strategic investments in our economy.”

House Finance Chair Marcus Oshiro had a short reply: “I think those A-B-C-D-E — those five points — are appreciated, and likewise the House also looks at a similar balanced approach to the supplemental budget, which is based upon last year’s biennium budget.”

Meanwhile, as budget deliberations continue behind closed doors, all other pending money bills are stalled until a budget deal is reached.