On May 29, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) introduced HB 1437, which contains the provisions of the House Republican budget proposal for FY 2013-2014.
The legislation spends $28.34 billion, which is a 2.1 percent increase from FY 2012-2013 budget, but less than the $28.4 billion proposed by the governor in February. Rep. Adolph cites lower actual revenue collections than Governor Corbett had assumed in February as the basis for the reduction. Still, the proposal does assume higher revenue than the Independent Fiscal Office, which just a few weeks ago predicted a quarter billion dollar shortfall for the current fiscal year, and a quarter billion lower revenue projection for FY 2013-2014.
House Bill 1437 ups basic education funding by $10 million over the governor's $90 million increase, but reduces the governor's proposed funding increase to the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) from $315.6 million to $283.3 million. The budget bill does not anticipate an expansion of Medicaid pursuant to the federal Affordable Care Act.
The House proposal maintains most of the county human services programs at funding levels consistent with the governor's proposed budget, which itself proposes county lines largely at current-year budget levels.
The governor's proposal also expands the Human Services Block Grant Program to any county that chooses to participate, beyond the 20 current pilot counties. The block grant allows counties to achieve flexibility and efficiencies that help in balancing historic underfunding in these important programs. The expansion must be accomplished in separate legislation, and the budget bill itself does not need to reflect that change.
CCAP has assembled a number of budget resources on its commonwealth budget web page, including a spreadsheet with the governor's and House's proposed funding levels for county line items. It also includes links to budget resources from the governor and legislative caucuses. Highlights on line items of interest to counties follow.
Agriculture and the Environment. On a positive note, the House budget proposal restores approximately $3.8 million in General Fund dollars for conservation districts. The governor had proposed eliminating direct funding and relying wholly on Act 13 impact fee funds, which would have represented a significant loss of support for conservation district operations.
The House proposal maintains the governor's modest $50,000 increase to the State Food Purchase Program. The bill provides an increase of $1 million for the Agriculture College Land Scrip Fund beyond the governor's proposal, of which $540,000 would be designated for Penn State Extension.
Funding was held level for gypsy moth control, black fly and West Nile virus prevention programs in both the governor's and the House's budget proposal. While the governor proposed a $10 million increase for the state's farmland preservation program, an analysis of this funding in the House proposal was unavailable at press time.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs. House Bill 1437 mirrors the governor's proposal of flat funding for all budget line items relating to substance abuse services. The numbers for Act 152 funding and tobacco prevention and cessation would also be the same as what was available in FY 2012-2013. Intermediate Punishment programs funded through the Commission for Crime and Delinquency are also slated to be funded at the same level as in FY 2012-2013.
Child Welfare. House Bill 1437 would remove the one percent increase in state funding for county children and youth offices proposed by the governor, instead flat funding the line item at the FY 2012-2013 level. A lack of any new funding will impede implementation of any initiatives or legislation resulting from the recommendations of the Task Force on Child Protection. The House budget proposal also reduces funding for child care services and child care assistance below the governor's proposal, while Family Centers and the Nurse-Family Partnership would be level funded with FY 2012-2013, as in the governor's proposal.
Community and Economic Development. Many programs through DCED would remain level funded in FY 2013-2014 under HB 1437. The Office of Open Records, however, would receive a nearly 19 percent increase from FY 2012-2013 in the House proposal (15 percent more than the governor's proposal), and funding for Marketing to Attract Tourists, level funded in the governor's proposal, would also see an almost 15 percent increase over FY 2012-2013.
DCED's General Government Operations budget includes funding for the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB), whose functions now fall under DCED under the new Act 2 of 2013.
Homeless Assistance Program. Funding to provide temporary shelter to homeless individuals and rental assistance to those in danger of becoming homeless is proposed to remain the same as the FY 2012-2013 level in HB 1237 ($18.5 million), consistent with the governor's request.
Human Services Development Fund. The House proposal would fund HSDF at the same level as FY 2012-2013, $13.46 million, also consistent with the governor's request.
Judiciary.The House budget proposal increases levels of funding by 1.5 percent over the governor's request, which called for flat funding from FY 2012-2013 for most judicial line items that impact the counties.
There is no direct allocation for district attorney salary reimbursement, but concurrent with budget action in 2009, a permanent court fee surcharge was imposed to raise funds for the commonwealth portion. Because the fund initially produced insufficient annual amounts to cover this cost (although it is now expected to do so going forward), the commonwealth remains in arrears in meeting its reimbursement obligation to counties.
Juvenile Detention. Specific funding amounts for juvenile detention are unavailable at press time, as a breakdown of the funding levels for specific line items within the aggregate program budget is not listed in the bill.
Libraries. In the Department of Education, the public library subsidy is held level at $53.5 million in both the governor's proposal and HB 1437.
Long-term Care. HB 1437 maintains the governor's proposed two percent increase in the Medicaid payment rates for nursing homes, following three years of rate freezes that have caused severe financial pressure on the homes. Also, the projected funding for nursing homes in the House proposal for FY 2013-2014 shows state funding increasing to $852.1 million, a small boost above that originally proposed by the governor, accompanied by more than $2 billion in federal funds. The House proposal also includes some $473 million generated in nursing home assessment funds, another $90 million from the tobacco settlement and $309 million from the lottery fund. This marks the first year in which no residual funds are utilized from the Intergovernmental Transfer Program (IGT), which was phased out several years ago. Relief from the county share requirement for nursing homes that used to be provided by the IGT has been replaced by funds from the Certified Public Expenditure (CPE).
Home and community-based services are proposed to be funded at $200.2 million in state funds and $252 million in federal funds in both HB 1437 and the governor's proposal, showing a slight increase from the current fiscal year. The House proposal also maintains the governor's proposal to fund long-term care managed care at about $184 million (in combined state and federal funding), which is a minor increase over the FY 2012-2013 figure.
Medical Assistance Transportation Program. State funding for MATP for FY 2013-2014 has been proposed at $72.8 million in HB 1437, level funded with FY 2012-2013 but less than the $76.2 million proposed by the governor. Counties have and will continue to work with DPW to develop cost-containment initiatives and weed out fraud and abuse; still, MATP is federally mandated and needs to be appropriately funded in order for our most vulnerable citizens to receive necessary transportation to their medical providers.
Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Early Intervention and Autism. HB 1437 is largely consistent with the governor's proposed budget in these categories. County mental health base dollars, intellectual disability base dollars and the Behavioral Health Services Initiative line items are all funded essentially flat with the budget enacted for FY 2012-2013. The mental health base line is increased slightly over the governor's proposal, but those funds are dedicated to pension costs for the state hospital system. ID waiver funding is sufficient to annualize the 2012-2013 waiting list initiative and serve an additional 1,080 individuals with emergency status on the ID waiting list. Counties will assist with placing individuals into this initiative as part of their waiver administration responsibilities. The bill also retains funding for a CHIPP initiative to move 90 individuals from state hospitals to the community.
Early intervention funding is increased over FY 2012-2013 in HB 1437, as proposed by the governor, but these funds assure continuation of the existing program. Counties serve children ages 0-3 with developmental delays and also provide matching funds for state dollars. The autism services funding level continues the current program and provides $1.5 million in both the House's and governor's proposal to provide services to an additional 118 adults with autism.
Transportation.
The county liquid fuels fund, dedicated funds from Act 44 of 2007, and the Motor License Fund provide funding for county bridge and infrastructure projects are all dedicated funds falling outside the general fund budget, and therefore details regarding these allocations in the House proposal were unavailable at press time. However, discussions are continuing to move forward on a transportation proposal that would include funding for both state and local infrastructure as well as mass transit. Following the unveiling of a plan by the governor concurrent with his budget address in February, Senate Transportation Committee chair Sen. John Rafferty (R-Montgomery) announced his proposal, now SB 1,which increases the governor's proposal to $2.5 billion, adding among other things a special Highway Bridge program dedicating 1.5 mills of the oil franchise tax to county and municipal bridges. The General Assembly continues to express its intent to adopt a transportation funding package prior to June 30. 
