While the Senate is continuing to wait on passage from the House for a solution to the upcoming fiscal cliff, Senate President John Alario says a “plan b” has been set in place in the event a gridlock continues through the close of the special session.

“This is an effort to have some instrument in place just in case the house isn’t able to come to some compromise and find a way to fund the vital services of the state.”

The plan would suspend the expiration of the one-cent sales tax for up to fourteen months.  It’s currently set to expire June 30th.  Alario says it’s his hope the House will pass a sales tax renewal bill, but if they don’t, he would like a backup plan in place so cuts do not occur to state services.

 “We are just going to hold this in the Senate until we see that they have come to a complete crash. We are hoping that doesn’t happen. They are going to take up some instruments today and we hope they are very successful on it and there won’t be any need for the resolution.”

Alario says this is definitely not an ultimate fix to the budget issue and it would likely just continue the tax debate into the future.

 “The resolution allows it to go for a year and two months. That gives plenty time, I’m hoping that this gets resolved as we still will be facing another fiscal cliff coming next year so this is not a permanent solution at all.”

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