May 23, 2012

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House advances budget with few changes, blind cuts not restored (AUDIO)

March 21, 2012 By

If funding is to be restored to a supplemental pension program for more than 2,800 blind in Missouri, it will likely have to happen in the Senate.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (photo courtesy, House Communications)

The House spent more than five hours debating the 13 bills that make up the $24 billion Fiscal Year 2013 budget on Tuesday. In the few changes that were made, the $28 million dollars in the supplemental program for the blind was not restored.

Representative Sara Lampe (D-Springfield) offered an amendment to take more than $1.1 million from drug testing for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients and put it toward the blind program, but that was defeated.

House Republicans opposed the amendment and it was defeated. Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) said, “It’s often said in the appropriations process that if you lose the fight on the policy, you can always go after the money and de-fund it … This appears to me to be a second crack at defeating something that was overwhelmingly approved and signed by the Governor.”

Other amendments had been drafted that would have restored the funding for the blind by other mechanisms, but none were offered.

Among changes that were made…

An amendment was adopted to take $3 million out of a fund in the budget for the Department of Corrections that some lawmakers said was being misused.

Representative Rodney Schad (R-Versailles) offered the amendment. He said that money was supposed to be used to support vocational enterprises in the corrections system, buying things like farm equipment and seeds and maintaining buildings, but that’s not what it’s been used for.

“We have spent $305,400 on uniforms and clothing, $303,000 for custodial supplies, $781,000 for clothing supplies, $53,000 for laundry and linen supplies, $2,040 for personal care items. Nowhere in the statutes is that allowed.”

Schad says his amendment will require all funds generated by Missouri vocational enterprises stay in that fund.

Mamtek reaches the budget debate

Another amendment was adopted that stemmed from the failed Mamtek project in Moberly.

Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) offered the proposal to shuffle around $50,000 of federal money in the Department of Economic Development’s budget to create a position, who would be responsible for making sure it is conducting due diligence investigation into applicants for tax credit benefits.

Barnes, who headed up the House Committee that studied the Mamtek deal, said he doesn’t believe the Department will create such a position on its own. “They haven’t necessarily taken the responsibility for the shortcomings involved in Mamtek that I would have hoped they’d take.”

The House is expected to vote on the budget on Thursday.

AUDIO:  Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey’s statement closing budget debate on the House Floor, 6:05

AUDIO:  Representative Sara Lampe’s statement opening budget debate on the House Floor, 2:43

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House budget committee meets goal, passes budget bills ahead of Spring Break

March 8, 2012 By

The House Budget Committee has completed its work on a $24 billion budget.  The 13 budget bills must now clear the Rules Committee in order to go to the full House.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey. Photos courtesy, Missouri House Communications.

The proposed budget replaces a portion of the money 0aken from the Supplemental Aid to the Blind Program. An appropriations committee had recommended that $28 million program be eliminated and Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) took up that recommendation in his proposed budget. He proposed using that money to help replaces $106 million that was cut from higher education in the Governor’s budget proposal.

An amendment proposed by Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) was adopted that took about $2 million from the Department of Economic Development and put it back into Supplemental Aid to the Blind. Another $4 million depends on passage of HB 1835, which removes the sales tax exemption on the sales of newspaper supplies and equipment.

Silvey says the $6 million total would address concerns about providing a transitional benefit for those benefitting from the Supplemental program who make just barely too much money to benefit from Medicaid. He says the $6 million would help around 600 of the 2,800 people who benefitted from the original $28 million.

Silvey expressed confidence HB 1835 will pass to the Senate, and if it doesn’t reach the Governor he believes the disparity will be worked out in conference.

Silvey says tying the passage of that legislation to the budget is not the same as the Governor tying budget figures to the passage of other bills, which has been criticized as a budget “gimmick.” Silvey says the difference is the Governor can not passage legislation, and the general assembly can.

As for proposing an end to the tax credit, Silvey says, “The newspaper industry has been particularly vocal about the need to end corporate welfare or end corporate giveaways and I figured they should be the first in line.

The House’s budget also removes 444 estimated amounts, marked in the budget with an “E” next to some line items. Those were replaced with traditional amounts that total almost $957 million across the entire budget.

One of those that was removed was for the State Emergency Management Agency, under another amendment offered by Representative Kelly. He says he wants the Governor to have the flexibility to respond to a disaster, but wants increased communication between the Governor and the General Assembly before such decisions are made.

The Committee also adopted a “mega amendment,” addressing multiple issues. One of those was a decrease of the amount that various agencies were paying that went toward the salary of three employees of the Governor’s Office. Those positions, the Director of Boards and Appointments and two assistants, were last year transferred to the Department of Insurance but continued to work in the Governor’s office. The Department of Insurance was billing other departments for portions of that salary. The total budget reduction was $172,421.

House leadership plans to take the budget up after the legislature returns from spring break.

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House Budget Chairman’s proposal maintains cuts for blind, restores higher education cuts

March 1, 2012 By

The House Budget Committee Chairman is proposing wiping out the Governor’s cut to higher education, in part with money that supports some of the state’s blind.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey; Photo courtesy, Jonathan Lorenz, Missouri House Communications

Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) proposes filling back in the $106 million dollar cut the Governor proposed to higher education. $28 million of that would come out of the Supplemental Aid to the Blind program. He says people need to understand what that program is and who it helps.

“There is the emotional argument which just labels people and groups them together … then there’s the argument where you actually look at the program and you see that we’re talking about 2,800 people who have income, and that their income is too much for Medicaid. That’s the population that we’re dealing with.”

The Governor blasted the elimination of that program. In a statement, he says in many cases, it provides services that “are the crucial elements that enable them to live in their own homes.” Nixon says, “We should not, and cannot, remove the funding for this program,” and calls the proposal, “just plain wrong.”

Another $5 million is what the Governor proposed putting into the K-12 foundation formula, which Silvey says was an election year stunt.

“For me it was a matter of where are you getting the best bang for your buck in the education dollar. Is it $5 a year per student, which is what his increase in elementary and secondary education would have been, or is it close to five percent of restoring the cut that he made to higher education.”

See the list of House appropriations bills here.

Silvey’s proposal does restore $889 thousand to sexual violence victim’s services, and he says some of the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee on Health, Mental Health and Social Services have not been followed after a working group reexamined those in the last week.

The House Budget Committee will meet several days next week. Republican leadership expects the budget to reach the floor the week after Spring Break.

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Budget working group to take a closer look at health, social services budgets

February 23, 2012 By

Seven members of the House Budget Committee are going to take a closer look at areas where the budgets for the Departments of Mental Health, Health and Senior Services and Social Services might be reduced.

Representative Tom Flanigan presents part of his Appropriations Committee's budget to the full Budget Committee.

The Appropriations Committee covering those agencies recommended that New Decision Items within those budgets receive 75% funding. Chairman Tom Flanigan (R-Carthage) explained to the Budget Committee Wednesday that his intent was to force a supplemental budget in January when better information is available related to those items, and what funding is still necessary at that time can be provided. Flanigan noted that his committee does not have authority to make cuts.

The Budget Committee has now created a working group that will look at new decision items in the budget bills for those agencies for any places where similar withholds could be made. Representative Jeff Grisamore (R-Lee’s Summit) said the process would help conserve as much money as possible for the “most vulnerable people.”

See what’s in those budget bills, HB 2010 and HB 2011.

The members of the working group are Republicans Rick Stream of Kirkwood, Sue Allen of Town and Country, Grisamore and Flanigan and Democrats Chris Kelly of Columbia, Gail McCann Beatty of Kansas City and Jeanne Kirkton of Webster Groves.

Kelly says Flanigan’s withholding method is an innovative, interesting idea and he’s anxious to look into it more. “Is it reasonable to hold some money back and put it in the supplemental bill to make sure the money’s being spent correctly and targeted correctly?”

Kirkton says she is concerned for the agencies that might have to deal with those 25% withholds. “If I were a department manager I would be very nervous about it. You hope the supplemental money will be there but there’s always the ‘what if’s’. What if we had another catastrophe, what if that money’s not there, what if revenues don’t come in? We always have to worry.”

Kirkton says supplemental budget bills are expected to come out early next week, so the working group will have to work fast.

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House committee hears update from State Budget Director

February 22, 2012 By
The Nixon Administration has laid out its ideas for filling in the $460 million dollar hole in the fiscal year 2013 budget to the House Budget Committee.
 

State Budget Director Linda Luebbering

The gap in the budget had been $500 million but a recent mortgage settlement secured by the Attorney General’s Office has knocked that number down by $40 million.

State Budget Director Linda Luebbering says the Administration’s recommendations to balance the budget includes a $191.7 million reduction from where budget planners expected Medicaid would be. She tells lawmakers, “It’s an actual reduction of $20 million for general revenue from this year, but a $191 million dollar reduction from where we thought we would need to be because of the change in the Medicaid match rate.” Luebbering says it will not require a change in eligibility or a reduction in services provided.

$74.7 million of the administration’s budget recommendations also rely on measures still before the state legislature. A revenue collections bill would generate an estimated $12.9 million, with another $51.8 million to come from a tax amnesty bill. Both are sponsored by Representative Tom Flanigan (R-Carthage).

What had been a $16.9 million dollar recommended reduction to community and technical colleges has been scaled back to $10.5 million, also due to proceeds from the mortgage settlement.

Other amounts include $41 million from restructuring debt, $29.3 million in administrative savings, a $7 million reduction to biodiesel subsidy payments and a $2 million reduction to public health agencies.

The Administration’s top priority for the budget remains $203 million to the Foundation Formula. Luebbering says, “$198 million of that is needed just to keep the formula where it is this year.”

Luebbering tells the committee there are some positive signs in the economy. “The unemployment rate is down. We are starting to see a little bit of growth on the collections side. Not a lot yet this fiscal year. We were at 1.3 percent growth in our revenue collections at the end of January, so not stellar growth, but certainly it’s good to see that we’re continuing a positive on our collections numbers.”

Republicans question the validity of the lower unemployment numbers, saying that federal statistic does not count individuals who don’t have jobs and are no longer looking for them as being unemployed. Luebbering says the data still holds meaning, “Because it has historically looked at people who are looking for jobs or who have jobs. So, I think it is a historically relevant statistic that has been measured the same for years. Granted it’s not a complete number, but it at least is consistently calculated every month.”

The House Budget Committee will continue to hold agency budget hearings this week.

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