CHARLESTON — The House of Delegates Friday lobbed the ball back to the Senate.

Lawmakers have been in special session 20 days and have not reached agreement on a budget or revenue bills. A government shutdown looms as the fiscal year ends June 30.

While things in the House of Delegates were fluid on Friday, according to Delegates Vernon Criss and John Kelly, Republicans of Wood County, the House supported a version in a conference committee this week, which didn’t raise the sales tax, but expanded the tax to some previously untaxed services. The bill died when Republican senators on the conference committee did not sign it.

The House Friday afternoon approved on a 67-22 vote the same as what the conference committee considered earlier this week, Criss said.

It neither increases the sales tax nor reduces the income tax. It increases the wholesale tax on gasoline, increases the sales tax on cars from 5 percent to 6 percent and reduces the increase in the registration fees for cars from $50 to $40, Criss said. The registration fee presently is $30.

Generally, the disagreement in the two chambers has been over elimination of the personal income tax and sales tax increases.

On Thursday, the Senate approved a revenue bill that increases the sales tax to 6.5 percent, imposes the tax on untaxed business services and raises revenue by $82 million in new revenue, but includes reductions and a phase out of the income tax provided certain economic triggers occur.

The Senate also approved a $4.225 billion budget that includes most of what Gov. Jim Justice wanted, including a 2 percent raise for teachers, fewer cuts to colleges and universities, no cuts in Medicaid spending and the Save our State fund.

“That’s what they sent over here,” Criss said.

What happens on the Senate side is anyone’s guess, according to Criss and Kelly.

“It’s been a difficult special session,” Kelly said. “It’s been frustrating for everybody.”

Also on Friday, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy advised lawmakers to back away from making major changes to the tax system in West Virginia in light of the short time before there’s a government shutdown on July 1.

“The controversy of including income tax cuts in the tax plan is making it much harder to balance and pass a budget for the upcoming year,” said Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Budget discussions at this point must move beyond major changes to the state’s tax system and focus on passing a balanced budget “that protects West Virginia families and our state’s future,” Boettner said.

“The majority of the tax proposals offered during the regular session and special session have fallen short in regards to revenue after just one year, locking in future financial problems for West Virginia,” he said.

Boettner cited the state of Kansas where a roll back of the income tax caused three down grades of its credit line and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

“Legislators should consider the Simple Plan or a variation of this plan that would balance the budget, share the load, not lock in future deficits and protect our families,” he said.

The West Virginia Council of Churches, which represents 14 denominations, on Friday said it “is greatly concerned about the current state of budget negotiations.”

The council urged the Legislature to consider Deuteronomy 15:11 (NRSV), “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.'”

“The council in the past and currently believes that the Legislature should ‘investigate ways to raise revenue before cutting any essential services, especially to vulnerable children and seniors,” a statement from the council said. “Among these essential services, Medicaid stands out for us as particularly important for low-income workers, children, persons with disabilities, and the indigent elderly.”

The council supports economic, social and public policies that reduce poverty and education is among the prime ways to escape poverty. Reductions to primary, secondary and higher education will not lead the state forward, the council said.

“We further encourage our legislators to keep in mind the calling from both the federal and state constitutions to promote the general and common welfare, respectively, what the church would call the common good,” the council said. “In searching for a measure, a plumb line, by which to judge the 2018 budget, our state could do worse than to draw upon the higher principles of our founders and the calling of God to care for the most vulnerable.”

Earlier this week, the Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, said, “People of goodwill accept the proposition that a state budget is a moral document. Choices made in composing a budget reveal the true values of the political decision-makers.

“For a believer, central moral measure of any budget proposal is how it affects ‘the least of these’ (Matthew 25). The needs of those who are hungry and homeless, vulnerable and at risk, without work or in poverty should come first,” Bransfield said. “Government and other institutions have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all, especially ordinary workers and families who struggle to live in dignity in difficult economic times. Pope Francis reminds us that “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society.”

He cited the importance of Medicaid funding.

“In order for our poorer and more vulnerable citizens ‘to be fully a part of society,’ we must ensure their health. I call upon our legislators to care for the well-being of all our citizens,” the bishop said.