The Legislature's Appropriations Committee will hold two days of hearings this week on the latest round of spending cuts and other budget changes proposed by Gov. John Baldacci to fill a hole in the state budget.

The hearings will get underway at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, when the panel, which will be joined by other legislative committees, accepts public comment on changes affecting many agencies and programs.

Tuesday's schedule includes a review of proposed cuts in state aid to local schools, the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy.

That will be followed by a hearing Wednesday on spending cuts Baldacci has proposed for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Baxter School for the Deaf.

Baldacci unveiled the cuts last week when he released the second part of a budget-balancing plan designed to cover a $190 million shortfall in state revenues through June 30, 2009.

The governor proposed an earlier round of cuts in January before the shortfall, which initially was pegged at $95 million, grew to $190 million. The state's two-year budget totals $6.3 billion, so the $190 million gap between revenues and spending represents 3 percent of the total package.

Baldacci's plans do not call for tax increases or withdrawals from the state's savings accounts to help balance the budget.

The hearings will be held in Room 228 at the State House. The Appropriations Committee will later prepare its own version of the so-called supplemental budget and submit it to the full Legislature.