|
Sponsor's Insight
State Budget Proposal to Reach House and Senate Floors Tomorrow
House and Senate budget conferees reached agreement late in the day last Thursday after a couple of testy moments on the two previous evenings. The deal came down to one thing: What would the Senate accept in exchange for agreeing to a House proposal to reduce the tobacco tax by 10-cents per pack? Answer: A number of things including rejection of a proposal to make public employees "at will employees" if their contract expires without a new one in place, reform of the state's comprehensive shoreland protection law, restraint from repealing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and a sunset provision in the tobacco tax proposal so that the tax will automatically increase to its current level if revenue targets are not met. Both sides expressed support for the compromise package at the conclusion of the committee of conference process and expectations are that it will be adopted by the full House and Senate this Wednesday. What the Governor will do remains a question. His spokesman hedged on Thursday claiming that budget talks focused on only a small portion of overall state spending and that a decision will not be made until analysis of the complete package is completed. It is unlikely that the Governor will sign the budget bills, but he could let them become law without signature rather than using his veto authority.
Once again, the state has significantly under-funded the Medicaid program which will lead to even more cost-shifting to the private sector in the next biennium. Hospitals alone lost approximately $258 million largely due to changes in the "dispropoprtionate share program," a program intended to provide additional compensation to those hospitals that serve a large number of un- or under-insured patients. Losses of this magnitude cannot simply be absorbed and the impact will pass through to insurance premiums paid by New Hampshire employers and individuals.
A live stream of the House and Senate debates on the budget bills will be available Wednesday beginning at 10 AM at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/default.htm. Look for a "Listen Live" link or click on "Streaming Media" on the lefthand side of the screen.
Funding for Services to Seniors Takes Hit in Last-Minute Plan to Balance FY '11
One challenge facing budget-writers was how to close a $50 million gap in the FY '11 budget to avoid carrying a deficit to the beginning of FY '12 - '13. Governor Lynch presented a plan on June 9th to close much of the gap through accounting adjustments, funds transfers, a "benefit holiday" made possible due to excess funds in the state employee health insurance fund, and additional lapses from state agencies and the education trust fund. Nonetheless, a $14 million shortfall remained for legislators to deal with. They did so by lapsing $5.4 million in appropriations intended to support services to the elderly despite language in the FY '10-'11 budget prohibiting those funds from being lapsed, and by taking another $8.6 million from the state's so-called "rainy day fund." The lapse from the elder services budget lines will not result in rate decreases for service providers; however, these providers are paid significantly less than their cost to deliver services (some as low as 50-cents on the dollar) and the delivery system will continue to become more fragile as costs for insurance premiums, energy and gasoline, and other overhead increase while reimbursement rates remain stagnant.
Fun (?) Ahead for 2012 Legislative Session
Every year, legislators introduce LSRs (precursors to House and Senate bills) that raise eyebrows and this year is no different. House members have already had a filing period. Here are a few interesting ideas:
- prohibiting bullying in the state house and legislative office building
- prohibiting a person from being charged with speeding unless there is a victim of the offense
- requiring a vegetarian diet for inmates of the department of corrections
- designating Miss New Hampshire the official honorary hostess of the state
- prohibiting attorneys and their spouses from holding elective office in the legislative or executive branch
- prohibiting certain state employees from wearing fragrances
- requiring the courts to give every woman who gets a restraining order a gun and box of ammunition and provide her with instruction in shooting.
No, this is not a joke!
Valerie Acres
Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group
vacres@sheehan.com
| 
