Mr. Colvin briefed the Council on the current state budget situation and is effect on DEC’s marine resources programs. The Legislature adopted a "bare bones" budget in late summer, 2001. The bare bones budget did not reappropriate funds in several categories that are carried over from year to year, including the state Capital Fund and the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), both of which are important to DEC’s marine resources program. The EPF provides money for land acquisition, the Department’s Hudson River Estuary Management Program, and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Program. The bare bones budget also did not address the current shortfall in the State’s Conservation Fund. The $1 million originally appropriated for the Marine Animal Disease Lab was also not reappropriated.