The Colorado state Senate on Thursday approved the state’s $30.5 billion state budget and sent it to its next stop, the Colorado House.

Thursday’s 29-6 vote included a “yes” vote from Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert of Parker, who voiced his support for the budget and the compromise, reached a day earlier, that added $106 million in general funds to the state’s transportation budget.

That would put $336 million in one-time funding to road and bridge projects, including $200 million from last year’s Senate Bill 1 and $30 million added by the Joint Budget Committee in the budget-writing process.

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It’s a tiny amount compared to the state’s investment in K-12, “but we are grateful,” Holbert said. “We now have something in this budget that we can go back to our constituents…we got something. We worked together to accomplish one of the two goals” identified on the session’s first day.

Holbert acknowledged that the first action taken by the House will be to strip out all of the amendments, but he said he is hopeful that they will embrace a similar perspective and at least $300 million, if not more, for transportation.

Those who voted against the bill, Senate Bill 207, raised concerns about what they call the looming storm clouds on the horizon — another recession.

Even the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Dominick Moreno of Commerce City, noted that the March revenue forecast erased $250 million in expected revenue.

That led to caution by the JBC, including a bill to fund just $10 million for the state water plan and a decision to keep the state’s rainy day fund at its current level, 7.25 percent of the general fund budget, or about $843 million.

Economists have warned that Colorado’s statutory reserve is likely inadequate to cover a major recession, akin to the 2008 Great Recession, which would require a reserve of at least $2 billion.

“We should be storing our acorns away,” said Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial.

“We have created programs that we love but cannot afford,” added Sen. Don Coram of Montrose, hinting at the full-day kindergarten program that even Senate Democrats have questioned because of its cost.

“Good times never last,” said Coram. “Let’s prepare for tougher days.”

Almost all of the rest of the budget package, — a total of eight bills, including the budget — passed with unanimous or near-unanimous votes, but another bill got rough treatment from both sides of the aisle.

Senate Bill 212 puts $10 million of general fund dollars toward the continued implementation of the Colorado water plan. It’s unprecedented, said Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling.

That’s because the water plan has been funded with severance tax dollars generated by oil and gas operations up until this year.

Gov. John Hickenlooper left office without a clear vision for how to cover the plan’s anticipated $3 billion cost, with a state share of roughly $300 million over 30 years. And Gov. Jared Polis has not put forward any suggestions about how he would pay for the projects outlined by roundtables around the state responsible for managing the state’s water resources.

Initially, Hickenlooper had recommended $30 million for the water plan in the 2019-20 budget submitted before he left office, although he didn’t say where that money would come from.

Sonnenberg reminded senators that two severance tax funds have as much as $875 million available for water projects.

“To start asking for general fund to pay” for the water plan now is a mistake, he said.  “Allow the severance tax dollars to do what they have always been intended to do…our highest priorities for general fund should be K-12 education, transportation and mental health.”

“Many hands have reached into this budget and taken from rural Colorado,” added Democratic Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail, who chairs the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. “The water plan needs full-throated support, otherwise we’ll find ourselves in a critical situation when we had the time to plan.”

Donovan and Sonnenberg were among the 12 “no” votes on Senate Bill 212, which passed with 23 votes in support.