They tried.
Republicans were actually willing to give it to them in exchange for some across-the-board property tax cuts — with a $1 billion surplus, there was plenty of money to do it.
But the Dems didn’t want across-the-board tax relief.
And the final deal would have required to make most of the Dems’ spending increases sunset after two years rather than be permanent spending increases.
So the Dems axed the whole idea.