MADISON - State lawmakers spent Friday at the state Capitol deciding where to make budget cuts. The projects under consideration would help solve a new $1.6 billion budget shortfall. The Joint Finance Committee’s cuts include film tax credits that brought Hollywood filmmakers to Wisconsin. The committee also voted to cut proposed funding for prosecutors. “If you say, "What you want, public safety or other expansions of programs, "I’m going to choose public safety,” said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills). Democrats control the Joint Finance Committee because they control the Senate and the Assembly. They say they stand by their work as responsible. “There were cuts across departments, across the board. And so you know no one wants to have to cut,” said Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee). The committee voted 12-4 along party lines Friday to allow illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools and have lived in the state three years to qualify for resident tuition rates. The budget committee also voted 12-4 for a plan allowing gay and lesbian couples who live together to form domestic partnerships and receive some of the same benefits as married couples. If the plan becomes law, Wisconsin would be the first state to legalize domestic partnerships despite a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage and "substantially similar" same-sex relationships. Between 1 and 2 percent of employees would be expected to sign up their partners, which would increase insurance costs by about that amount, or as much as $16 million per year, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Lawmakers also voted to cut $120 million from the University of Wisconsin System's budget over the next two years. The committee, however, also approved spending $15 million for a retention fund for high-demand faculty members and to pay for UW research initiatives in bioenergy, DNA and biotechnology. (The Associated Press contributed to this report)