The state would raise the capital gains tax by nearly a half billion dollars and ditch a tax on oil companies that could have been passed on to consumers under the budget bill passed by Senate Democrats Wednesday.
In a 17-16 vote, Senate Democrats barely approved wide-ranging changes to the $62 billion state spending plan, adding an automatic increase to the state minimum wage but dropping provisions that would have aided illegal immigrants and expanded defendantsâ?? liability in negligence lawsuits.