Josh Anderson, listening closely as the Senate reader went through Gov. Bill Richardson's proclamation at the start of the special legislative session Saturday, heard the key thing he was hoping for: Richardson's agenda won't include any salary cuts for state employees.

It does, however, leave out revenue increases, something Anderson, the political coordinator for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 18, was hoping lawmakers would consider.

"The things I heard in there were very encouraging, outside of no revenue increases," he said. "We're cautiously optimistic because of what we've heard from the governor and lawmakers," he said. "We're optimistic the governor is fighting for our guys on this, and lots of legislators are too."

While nothing is for sure at the Capitol until the lawmakers have adjourned and gone home, it looks for now at least like the state's employees may be spared from layoffs and furloughs, even as lawmakers work to trim $660 million from the state's roughly $5.5 billion budget for this fiscal year.

"We'll be hanging out, we'll see what happens," Anderson said.

Richardson's proposal was a mixed bag for others watching at the packed Capitol on Saturday.

His plan would cut education by 1.5 percent but not affect "classrooms, kids and teachers."

The proposal to cut public schools and colleges by at least $40 million was a turnabout for the governor, who had previously said he didn't want to touch education.

He said the revision reflected the state's "new budget realities." But the education community said even a 1.5 percent cut was unacceptable.

The budget also cuts state agency spending by 3.5 percent.

Not everyone's job was spared by the budget crisis.

Thirteen staff positions in the House were eliminated to save money, while other employees have been assigned double duties.

The House tried to keep other expenditures low for the special session, eliminating $11,000 in spending.

"We're doing what we can to keep costs down. Hopefully this special session will be short so that we can get in, get our job done and get home," said House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington.

"The truth is that what's spent here is insignificant compared to the problem we face with the budget deficit."

Richardson's budget proposal didn't come easily or quickly, and some senators blasted him during the floor session, which lasted less than two hours, much of it spent waiting for the agenda to be delivered from the Governor's Office.

"I would apologize to the citizens of this gallery that we have not dealt with the problems we were called up here to deal with, and we may not even be able to deal with them tomorrow," said Sen. Clinton Harden, R-Clovis.

In a rare move that perhaps exemplifies the magnitude of the budget crunch, Richardson pushed back the start of the session from noon until 2 p.m. His proclamation, which specifies what lawmakers can deal with, didn't reach lawmakers until more than an hour later.

Although Richardson said he won't consider any tax increases, that issue appeared unsettled Saturday.

Several members of the Senate argued about whether increases they want to attempt to pass would be considered germane and whether it's constitutional for the governor to say they shouldn't be considered. That issue could be resolved today, when the Senate's Committees' Committee meets to discuss the issue.

Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, will propose to increase cigarette and alcohol taxes; Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, has a proposal that would require big corporations to use a so-called combined reporting system, under which companies that do business in multiple states would combine the profits of their subsidiaries and report them under one corporation.

Using this system, the companies would pay taxes in each state where they do business instead of being able to shift their profits to a state like Delaware, which doesn't charge a corporate tax, Wirth has said.

Both Wirth and Egolf, along with many others, say the state must raise revenue in addition to making cuts in order to balance the budget.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.