House Poised To Slice Into Perdue Budget

By TRAVIS FAIN - tfain@macon.com
Macon Telegraph
January 28, 2010


ATLANTA — Gov. Sonny Perdue’s budget proposals are balanced on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpopular ideas, and killing them off will require hundreds of millions worth of spending cuts that leaders in the Georgia House of Representatives say they intend to make.

Where those cuts will come from, House leaders either aren’t sure or won’t say. But the effect on some state departments could be massive, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ben Harbin made it clear Wednesday “there are no sacred cows” in this year’s budget.

The House’s first target is Perdue’s proposal to place a 1.6 percent tax on hospital revenue. That essentially would charge paying customers to help fund the state’s Medicaid health-care program for the poor. That tax, and a similar one on managed care providers, would raise an estimated $345 million for the state in fiscal 2011.

It’s a major building block in Perdue’s $18.2 billion budget proposal for next year. But Harbin said he doesn’t think it will ever pass the House, where the Republican majority has taken a stand against tax increases.

“We’re going to make the cuts (to do away with it),” Harbin, R-Evans, said Wednesday. “Every department, I think, is going to have to take cuts.”

There are no obvious $100 million cuts in the budget, Harbin acknowledged. The state budget has already yielded more than $2 billion in state revenue cuts over the past two years, an effect of the recent recession.

Perdue and his economists predict some revenue growth in the next year. Perdue hopes it’s enough to stop furloughing teachers and other state employees after July 1. But these new cuts contemplated by the House would be game-changers.

“We’ve pulled the easy fruit,” Harbin said Wednesday.
“Now we’ve got to climb up into the tree. ...Every program is in play.”

Perdue’s administration has said it’s willing to consider other options, but after several months of budget preparation, it doesn’t see any good ones. The only other way to offset the need for new hospital tax revenues it has suggested has been a 16.5 percent cut in the Medicaid reimbursement rate paid to hospitals, doctors and other health-care professionals.

That “would be devastating,” Perdue’s communications director Bert Brantley said Wednesday. Many doctors probably would stop accepting Medicaid altogether, Brantley said. Hospitals with no choice but to stay in the program would lose millions or pass the loss on to customers.

And since the 1.6 percent tax would allow the state to draw down federal money for Medicaid, the pass-along cost to paying patients likely would be much higher if reimbursements are cut.

Another key budget proposal that’s proving unpopular is the governor’s plan to take some of the loans the state has made to help local governments fund water and sewer projects and sell them to private entities. It would be like a bank packaging mortgages together to raise cash. The state would get nearly $300 million to balance the budget next year, and the buyers would collect the debt later from the local governments.

It’s not clear how much the companies and other buyers stand to gain over the life of the deal, but it could be as much as $275 million over the $300 million they’d have to pay in cash up front, figures from the governor’s office suggest.

These Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority loans are a major source of financing for government infrastructure projects across the state. Perdue has promised loans still would be available, albeit in amounts akin to 2005 levels instead of the higher amounts of more recent years.

But many outside the administration are concerned that selling off a revolving source of funding for a one-time cash infusion will devastate the program and force more local governments into the more expensive private borrowing market.

That means Wall Street bankers and “very expensive bond attorneys,” said Todd Edwards, who focuses on these issues for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, a group that works with county governments.

“The bottom line: This means higher (borrowing) prices for local governments, taxpayers and rate payers,” Edwards said.

Harbin said House budget writers aren’t rejecting the GEFA proposal outright, but they are “going to ask some tough questions” about it.

But, as with the hospital tax proposal, Perdue’s office said the governor has tried to choose the best of a lot of bad options. Packaging the GEFA loans would net the state nearly $300 million for fiscal 2011. The hospital tax would bring in an estimated $345 million more, plus the 3-to-1 match in federal dollars, pushing its full impact over $1 billion.

Education spending makes up 57 percent of the state budget. How, Brantley asked, do you cut hundreds of millions from the budget without seriously impacting that?

Democrats would like to see the state do a better job of collecting sales taxes, possibly by allowing local governments to take over some of the process and certainly by merging state databases with local business license records to better catch scofflaws. Those ideas seem to be gaining steam among the Republican majority at the Capitol, and proponents believe it could net the state hundreds of millions in the coming year.

But no one can be certain how much that actually would raise or how fast.

Teachers, who are planning on furlough days in the coming months and increases in class sizes, just want the bleeding to stop, Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said Wednesday.

Hubbard called on legislators to bring in new revenue, despite the Republican majority’s repeated mantra that raising taxes in a struggling economy is the worst thing government can do.

Hubbard said his organization wants to see a new half-cent sales tax for education, and he doesn’t care what it’s charged on.

“It could be hotels, it could be rental cars ... they could do it in conjunction with the tobacco tax,” he said.

“(The education budget) is not even hemorrhaging,” he said. “It’s not even bleeding. I would call (this tax) a tourniquet.”

To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.

http://www.macon.com/local/story/1001909.html

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Editorial: Shortsighted State Government Disappoints

Athens Banner-Herald
January 26, 2010


The editorial board writes, At a time when taking the long view would seem to be the best approach for managing state government in Georgia, it's disappointing to see some shortsightedness emerging on vital issues including education, transportation and water resources.

To read the whole article go to: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/012610/opi_554645327.shtml

© 2010 OnlineAthens • Athens Banner-Herald • Morris Digital Works

Georgia Medicaid Deficit Could Exceed Half-Billion Dollars

By Morris News Service
Savannah Morning News
January 15, 2010

ATLANTA - More bad news, in advance of the expected release at noon today of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s budget proposal. Thursday, Community Health Commissioner Rhonda Medows announced that the state’s Medicaid shortfall for Fiscal 2011 will be in the neighborhood of $635 million.

That’s a 33 percent increase over the $477 million shortfall the state faced last year.

One observer noted that when combined with the temporarily enhanced 3:1 federal match for Medicaid expenditures, this amounts to a total $2 billion shortfall. The result could be “devastating” for the state’s hospitals and health care providers, the source said.

House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin said Friday morning the news could make funding for other government services harder to find.

“If I spend money on something that looks good, it has to come from somewhere,” the Evans Republican told a conference of social-program advocates. “Is it coming from our K-12 education? It could be. Is it coming from out healthcare needs, as we saw this morning with the downturn in the economy and the larger-than-expected deficit in Medicaid? Is it going to come from there?”

The increasing burden on the Medicaid system also reflects the state’s tough economic position. It’s being driven up as more Georgians join the poverty rolls.


http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2010-01-15/georgia-medicaid-deficit-could-exceed-half-billion-dollars

Morris Communications All files and material © Savannah Morning News, 2009

GET READY FOR A CHALLENGING 2010 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Bringing you up to speed: HB 228 restructured the Department of Human Resources, creating the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD).

Home and Community-based services for people with Developmental Disabilities will be funded in the DBHDD budget.

The ICWP home and community-based services will remain under the Department of Community Health.

The Situation:
Georgia’s revenue has been in decline for the last 10 months – a 14.2% average decrease.

To date, $3.2 billion dollars have been cut from state agencies.

The FY 2010 cut to DBHDD was $118.6 million, a 14.7% reduction.

A higher federal Medicaid match rate from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds replaced $65.1 million, leaving a $53.5 million cut.

The Need:
Over 6300 individuals are on the waiting list for the NOW / COMP waiver. Nearly 4,000 are on the SHORT TERM list.

187 individuals are on the waiting list for the ICWP waiver.

There are not enough state family support dollars to keep people stable at home while they wait.

Over 800 people with developmental disabilities remain in state hospitals; more individuals with developmental disabilities and / or physical disabilities are in nursing facilities.

The Request:
SUPPORT DBHDD’s request for 1500 NOW/COMP waiver services · $20,596,290 ·

Support DCH’s request for 100 ICWP waiver slots under MFP · $1,199,652 · and cover ICWP waiting list · $1,829,854 ·

Support an increase in state funded family support dollars. (NOT currently included in the budget, but we propose an additional $6,000,000 each year).

Support the Division of Developmental Disabilities’ request for a cost study on provider rates, and stabilize the rate structure so providers can stay in business.

Support the request for a new multi-year funding plan for Home and Community-based Services, effective FY 2011, for 5 years.

NOW is a good time to meet with your legislators in their home district,
attend their forums and meetings, and tell them what you need for a family member with a disability to be supported in your community.

http://www.unlockthewaitinglists.com/advocate.html
GCDD.gov

State Budget Pictures Bleak As Lawmakers Head Back

SHANNON McCAFFREY
January 3, 2010

ATLANTA (AP) - The new year promises to be a tough one for lawmakers scrambling to find enough money to keep their states running without raising taxes.

Tax collections continue to sputter. Federal stimulus dollars are about to dry up. Rainy day funds have been tapped. And demand for services like Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits is soaring.

Budgets are already lean and unless lawmakers increase taxes or fees, they will need to cut even more as they grapple with the steepest decline of tax receipts on record.

That could mean new tolls to fund road projects, more prisoners being released early to trim corrections budgets, and the end of welfare programs that don't bring federal matching dollars. Funding could also evaporate for higher education, arts and economic development.

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16037/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Jc1ULQnF
AP Mobile. © 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Budget Cuts ‘Will Not Be Pretty’

By Tom Sabulis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 2, 2010


A wild turn of events put Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) in position to become the highest-ranking woman in Georgia legislative history.

First, House Speaker Glenn Richardson resigned last month after his former wife said he had an affair with a lobbyist. Then, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, the interim House speaker, announced he would leave the General Assembly if he lands the job heading the Georgia World Congress Center.

That paved the way for a new leadership team. Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) was nominated to become the next speaker. Jones was chosen as the GOP nominee for speaker pro tem — the No. 2 position in the House. Elections to ratify the new slate will be held Jan. 11, when the 2010 Legislature convenes. Jones talks about her historic nomination and the House’s image problems.

Q: Congratulations. We believe you will become the highest-ranking woman ever in the Georgia Legislature. How does that feel?

A: It feels good. The part I found most significant is that it was not an issue with my caucus. I wasn’t running as a female candidate; it generally didn’t even come up. That’s a good day — when folks just look at you for you and not your gender.

Q: Does it signify anything else for the state? I mean, it’s about time, right?

A: Well, half of Georgia is female. And it confirms to women that, certainly, some of the issues that might be of more concern to them might be on the table. I felt they were before. This is more visible confirmation ... and that matters. Sometimes, what you see does matter to folks.

Q: Will this new session signal changes in the ethics culture, the lobbyist culture, up at the Capitol?

A: Probably so. Certainly, again, I think it is more a visible confirmation, that we’re there to represent the people who elected us all across Georgia. I think that, probably, folks will see and feel more of a recognition that the focus should not be concentrated [on lobbyists], but broadly.

Q: You have a family — four kids. How do you react when you see behavior of colleagues in the House like Glenn Richardson?

A: It’s always a concern to me. Image does matter. It matters to me. Someone asked me, who keeps you accountable? I said, well, among others, my faith, my children. I don’t ever want my children to read something in the newspaper that they would find embarrassing. I will say a vast majority of legislators, on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, operate with the best interests of the public in mind.

Q: What do you think are the biggest issues you’re going to be facing in this session?

A: No. 1 is the budget. It is going to be a tremendous challenge to balance it and to continue to meet the needs of the state. I’m absolutely confident we can do it, but it will not be pretty. There are consequences when you cut several billion dollars from the budget. I did an analysis for the [Republican] caucus a couple months ago, and the per capita spending in the budget for this fiscal year will be less than the per capita spending a decade ago. And that does not even take into account the inflation factor.

Q: There are just no new sources of revenues?

A: I do not know of a new source of revenue that doesn’t take more money out of people’s pockets, and given that about half of our budget revenue is derived from income tax and roughly half from sales tax, the fact that it’s down 15 percent tells you that people are making less and spending less. We’re a third of the way into the fiscal year and we’re down 15 percent. That will, I think, dominate the entire session.

Q: You’re from the metro Atlanta area. So is Ed Lindsey, the new majority whip. Will this leadership bring new cooperation between the state and city, specifically with MARTA?

A: I don’t know. I’m mindful that MARTA is important to the state and there are many people who rely on MARTA as their primary transportation. And I realize that having transit options is important in a vibrant, busy city. I would think there would be certainly a dialogue to hear what they have to say.

Q: It doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a transportation solution, just more talk about what to do.

A: No, I believe we will continue to make progress on that. There are several options on the table. One is more long-term, in which in years when we have a net positive budget — which, of course, is not this year — we take the fourth penny on gasoline [tax], the fourth penny tax, and devote it to transportation. That’s one solution that’s on the table.

Q: Does that fourth penny exist now?

A: It does exist, but only three of the four [cents] are mandated by the Constitution to go to transportation, to DOT. The fourth penny — I want to say it’s about $250 million — goes to the general budget.

Q: Atlanta has a new mayor, (former state Rep.) Kasim Reed. Do you know him, and what do you think about him?

A: I do. He is bright, talented. My experience with him is that he’s a fiscal conservative and that he works well on both sides of the aisle. I believe he will be a great mayor.

Q: You’ve been fighting for the re-creation of Milton County. Why?

A: Fulton County comprises one-tenth of the state’s population. We’re the ninth most populous state in the union. Fulton is larger in population than six individual states in the union. It is too large and too bloated and too remote from the voters to perform efficiently or adequately to anyone’s satisfaction. With a million people, you just can’t have elected influence in Fulton County. It is not local government, no matter how you define it. And it shows in the poor job that they do throughout the entire county. For example, they spend double per capita on library services than the state average, yet have half the circulation of books and materials per capita.

Q: What’s the status of the effort?

A: The bill is sitting in committee in the House. It would not create Milton County; it would simply allow the state voters to decide if historically created counties could be re-created. As a former Atlanta resident, as a north Fulton resident, I think it would be absolutely the best thing for all. It’s clear that it’s viable for both — what would remain in Fulton and what would become Milton. The per capita property tax revenues and sales tax revenues would be almost equal. We [Milton] would certainly continue to participate in MARTA
and Grady [hospital]; those things should be off the table. Those decisions were made while we were all together, and should continue. But it is about having true local government and doing it more efficiently. And I think it’s time to let the people decide if they want to.

Q: You have a birthday coming up on Jan. 28. What are you wishing for?

A: I’m wishing that I’ll have the wisdom and judgment to do as good a job as I possibly can as pro tem, and that my children will be happy and healthy.

Q: I bet you think I wouldn’t ask you that question if you were a man.

A: That’s right.

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/budget-cuts-will-not-264282.html

© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

State to Seek Race to the Top Funds

By Winston Skinner
The Times-Herald
December 2, 2009

Georgia will be seeking some of the $350 million in Race to the Top funds -- federal dollars earmarked to rethink how the educational process is evaluated.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has set aside up to $350 million of Race to the Top funds "for the potential purpose of supporting states in the development of a next generation of assessments," according to a U.S. DOE Web site. The department has sought "a wide range of input from assessment practitioners and researchers" in moving forward with the program.

"We have to lead the nation in improving student achievements," Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox said at an Education Town Hall at Lindley Middle School in Mableton on Monday -- echoing a goal Georgia DOE adopted shortly after she took office in 2003.

Alisha Thomas Morgan, state representative for District 39, was host for the Education Town Hall. She said Race to the Top "is really a competition encouraging states to improve innovation and creativity and rigor."

Morgan said she believes Georgia is positioned well to get some of the money that is part of the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan. "We've been able to work together in a bipartisan way. We have not been afraid of accountability," she said.

Morgan is a Democrat from Austell. Cox, a Republican, was a Fayette County teacher before she was elected state school superintendent.

"The number one factor in student achievement is an effective teacher," Morgan said.

Cox said there are processes in place that will allow Georgia principals to fire incompetent teachers. "We're going to try to create some more carrots for those high achieving teachers in the near future," she said.

She said there is a national trend to move toward evaluating "what teachers are doing with student learning." Cox said the new Georgia teacher assessment instrument does a better job in that regard than previous evaluation methods.

Cox answered questions posed by adults in the audience and by a panel of Lindley students. One of the eighth graders asked Cox her opinion of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "No Child Left Behind has helped our state. Are there problems? Yes," she stated.

Cox said there are national discussions taking place about how to fine tune NCLB.

One problem Cox pointed out was the requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that students with special needs be given modifications to help them achieve, but those allowances are not permitted under NCLB testing.

At the same time, NCLB has placed a focus on getting the most from special education students.

"The students who have made the greatest gain since 2003 are students with disabilities," Cox said. "We don't need to abandon the idea that all kids means all kids."

During her talk, Cox shared statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The latest NAEP scores showed Georgia students improving. In most areas, Georgia test scores rose more than the national average -- and in some, Georgia pupils scored above the national average. The test compares students overall in grades four and eight -- and ranks black, Latino and white students as groups, as well.

The only measure on which a subgroup in Georgia did not increase scores more than the national average was fourth grade math scores for black students. Cox noted their scores were still close to the national average.

Reading scores for Georgia eighth-graders in all areas were above the national scores. Cox said middle schools "are doing a heck of a job."

Cox outlined the many responsibilities of the state school superintendent and of the Georgia Department of Education. She said an unofficial, but important, role for the superintendent is to have a vision for improving schools -- and to communicate that vision.

Cox said it is important to communicate "a sense of urgency" about the work ahead for schools and to "get people excited about that vision."

Cox said her biggest disappointment as superintendent was to face the economic downturn just when major strides were being made in education in Georgia. Schools were moving "full steam ahead" when the economic crisis hit -- causing most systems, including Coweta, to furlough teachers because of reduced state revenues, she noted.

"We've had the rug pulled out from under us because of the downturn in the economy," Cox said.

Cox and Morgan both suggested the economic strictures on Georgia schools are not over yet.

Morgan said legislators will face difficult choices when the Georgia General Assembly convenes in January. "We're going to have to make some tough decisions with the budget," she said.

"It's going to be a rough couple of years," Cox predicted. "I don't have a lot of hope to give you within the next two budget cycles in state education dollars."

http://www.times-herald.com/local/State-to-seek-Race-to-the-Top-funds-919031

© 2009 The Newnan Times-Herald Inc

Job Cuts Planned at State Center Due to Cuts in Budget

Shelley Ridenour and Steve Zimmerman
Pauls Valley Daily Democrat
November21, 2009

The papers weren’t pink, but the message was as clear as any pink slip — jobs will be cut at the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center in Pauls Valley.

Last week, 163 SORC employees were given letters asking them to consider quitting their jobs in an effort to reduce staff at the state-run institution.

Employees were offered a “voluntary out benefit,” SORC Director Jeff Livingston said.

State officials say they need to cut 93 positions at SORC, but identified 163 employees to make the offer to, in hopes that 93 will take them up, avoiding any future layoffs.

The staff reduction comes as all state agencies have been directed to cut their budgets because of declining oil and gas revenue to the state.

In the end, at SORC that means staffing will be reduced from 387 today to 294 employees by early 2010.

Employees targeted at SORC were offered a buyout package that includes 18 months of insurance for the employee only, not family members; a half week’s pay for each year worked at the center not to exceed $5,000; and pay for accumulated vacation leave.

Employees have 45 days to accept or decline the offer, according to Jim Nicholson. Nicholson is the director of the developmental disabilities services division of the Oklahoma Human Resources Management Division.

Employees mail their response letters back to Nicholson’s department, which then returns information to Livingston.

It’s a first-come, first-served arrangement and the first 93 people to say “yes,” get the package, Livingston said.

The offer was made to employees only in certain areas at the Pauls Valley center. There are no plans to cut direct health care positions, he said.

“Most of the positions that are being cut are non-health care related positions,” Livingston said.

Meetings were held at SORC to explain the cutbacks, Livingston said.

Despite their anxiety about the cutbacks, his employees did him proud in the meetings, Livingston said.“I sent each of them letters applauding them on their professionalism,” he said.

“This is a very challenging time for our employees and they have shown a great understanding and attitude about the cutbacks.”

The buyouts could be attractive to some employees, the two directors say.“This is a good opportunity for some staff, particularly those near retirement,” Nicholson said. “We understand this is a very personal decision.”

The OKDHS developmental disabilities services division serves about 10,000 Oklahomans with intellectual and developmental disabilities through a variety of community-based programs and two resource centers. The 2009-2010 division budget is $236 million.Currently, 148 clients live at the SORC.

http://www.paulsvalleydailydemocrat.com/local/local_story_325135448.html

Associated Press content © 2009.

$4.4 Million Budget Cut Could Affect Child Care

By Jonathan Saltzman
Boston Globe
November 24, 2009

Thousands of children in Massachusetts risk losing subsidized child care services because of a $4.4 million budget cut that Governor Deval Patrick has made, according to the head of a Boston-based antipoverty group that helps arrange the services.

John J. Drew, president and chief executive of Action for Boston Community Development Inc., said a cut announced last month by the governor imperils services to 57,000 low-income children statewide, including 12,000 served by his agency.

“I just get tired of trying to balance the budget on the backs of poor women and kids,’’ Drew said, with frustration in his voice, in an interview yesterday. “It’s just ridiculous.’’

He said he has implored top officials in the Patrick administration - including Sherri R. Killins, commissioner of early education and care - to restore the funds. Nearly all the funding, he said, is federal money provided to the state and then distributed to antipoverty groups.

Killins, for her part, said late yesterday that the state has restored $1 million cut from the budget, which Drew disputes, and has told the antipoverty groups they can apply for another $1 million in federal stimulus funds if they manage the child care program more efficiently. One of those efficiencies would be transferring certain administrative responsibilities to child care centers.

“There is no need for any kids to lose day care, absolutely not,’’ she said.

The dispute revolves around a federal child care block grant that enables 14 antipoverty groups to write vouchers totaling $268 million for 57,000 children, most of whose families are on welfare. The money pays more than 6,000 private child care providers to provide services around the state.

Drew said that the antipoverty groups got an additional $9.78 million this year to pay staff to administer the programs, verify eligibility, and write the vouchers. But Patrick cut that by $4.4 million in the middle of the fiscal year that began in July, leaving many of the groups in the lurch, he said.

As a result of the cut, Drew said, antipoverty groups around the state have already laid off about 100 employees, and Action for Boston Community Development may have to lay off most of the 20 people it employs to manage the program.

“It will wreak havoc with thousands of lives and come back to haunt the state economy as parents lose jobs and child care agencies shut down,’’ he said in a statement issued earlier. “We will see working parents return to the welfare rolls and homelessness increase as families miss rent payments.’’

On Nov. 5, he added, Action for Boston Community Development informed the 1,167 child care providers that it deals with that if the cuts are not restored, the antipoverty group might not have the staff to process families’ vouchers and providers’ payments after Dec. 1.

Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/24/44m_budget_cut_could_affect_child_care/

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

Tennessee Budget Cuts Could Close Longtime Institution for People with Severe Disabilities

By Chas Sisk
THE TENNESSEAN
November 20, 2009

The only state institution in Middle Tennessee for people with severe intellectual disabilities could be closed under a plan introduced Thursday to cut spending.

The Clover Bottom Development Center, an 86-year-old Donelson institution that at its peak housed more than 1,500 residents, could be targeted for closure in the next fiscal year if Gov. Phil Bredesen were to go forward with plans to slash the state budget by as much as 9 percent.

The closure would save the state $36 million a year, officials from the Division of Intellectual Disabilities Services said. But it would also mean moving the 108 people who still live at the facility on short notice into another state institution in East Tennessee or into private facilities.

"There must be great care taken in how we transition a person," said Debra Payne, the division's director. "I think we've been looking to downsize Clover Bottom, but I don't think the planning process has fully developed a plan."

The plan was revealed on the third day of public hearings in which government officials presented suggestions for how to close a state budget gap that could reach as much as $1.5 billion next year. Previous suggestions have included releasing as many as 4,000 nonviolent felons and curbing benefits for people enrolled in TennCare, the state insurance program for the poor, pregnant women and children.

Bredesen has not yet said which of those proposals he intends to take up, but at Thursday's hearing, he appeared to show some interest in closing Clover Bottom.

"Closing a very old state facility and putting them in another facility … would seem to be a good thing," he said.

Mary Schaffner, an attorney for the Clover Bottom Parent-Guardian Association, said her group would not be opposed to closing Clover Bottom, if its residents were transitioned safely into another state-run facility.

The residents of Clover Bottom have disabilities that are too severe to be placed in group homes, and the care they need is too intensive to be trusted to privately operated facilities, she said.

"With state-run, you always have a system of providing good care," she said. "Private ones go up and down in terms of making money."

The plan would cut about 3.8 percent from the division's budget. Officials offered no other spending cut proposals, so Bredesen asked that they consider renegotiating contracts for other services, pointing out that only three states spend more per patient than Tennessee to care for people with intellectual disabilities.

"I need you to go back and at least tell me if I really have to go there, what do I have to do, he said. "I don't think I'm imposing an impossible challenge."

In another hearing, Bredesen also heard officials from the Department of Safety describe possible cuts to that agency.

Officials said they would have to remove 25 troopers from the state's highways, leaving 13 small counties without a trooper assigned to them, if Bredesen were to ask them to cut their budget by the full 9 percent. Safety officials also said they would have to close six driver license offices and cut staffing at others, increasing the expected wait time for a driver license to as long as two hours from the current 45 minutes.

To read page 2 go here http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091120/NEWS0201/911200365/1009/NEWS02/TN+budget+cuts+could+close+longtime+institution+for+people+with+severe+disabilities

Chas Sisk can be reached at 615-259-8283 or
csisk@tennessean.com.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091120/NEWS0201/911200365/1009/NEWS02/TN+budget+cuts+could+close+longtime+institution+for+people+with+severe+disabilities

Copyright © 2009 The Tennessean. All rights reserved

AADD's "Conversations That Matter: The Art of Adovacy" Held in Gwinnett County on November 16

What kind of advocate do you want to be?

This was the question posed to attendees at AADD’s (All About Developmental Disabilities) "Conversations That Matter: The Art of Advocacy", November 16, at the Busbee Center in Gwinnett County.

More than 75 parents of children with disabilities and professionals working in the field, learned directly from their legislators about the budget challenges for this upcoming session as well as how best to approach legislators about issues of importance to them.

Thanks to Senator Renee Unterman, Senator Curt Thompson and Representative Melvin Everson for their active participation in the meetings.

Rita Young, Director of Public Policy for AADD, provided information on the Unlock The Waiting List campaign and provided training on how to advocate. She challenged attendees to connect with each other, discuss effective ways to advocate for individual issues to strengthen the communities of support for individuals with disabilities and encouraged participants to get involved during the upcoming legislative session.

The programs were made possible thanks to support and partnership with GCDD (Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities), Community Action Pioneers of Gwinnett, and the Unlock the Waiting List campaign.

Be on the look out for similar events in Savannah and Ben Hill this winter.

Committee Reduces Rate Increases Promised to Health Care Providers

By JoAnne Young
For the Lincoln Journal Star
Lincoln, NE
November 12, 2009

They said decisions about budget cuts would be hard.

The difficult discussions began in earnest Thursday morning in the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, starting with a decision to reduce increases private providers of health care services for the state would get next year.

The committee will recommend those increases be reduced to 0.5 percent for behavioral health, public assistance and Medicaid providers. For providers of services for developmentally disabled and aging clients, the increase would be 1 percent. The smaller increases discussed a week into a special budget-cutting session would save $7 million in an effort to meet the $334 million deficit.

The action Thursday also would send back to the general fund $500,000 that was not used this year to move developmentally disabled clients off of the waiting list for services.

The provider rate increases were established in the 2009 legislative session with long, intense discussions. There was to be a 1.5 percent increase in 2010-11 for behavioral health, public assistance and Medicaid providers, and a 2.5 percent increase for providers of services for developmentally disabled. Those providing care to aging clients were to get 3 percent.

Those increases would have amounted to $20.9 million next year.

Some Appropriations Committee members argued Thursday that private providers have not kept up with salaries and benefits of state workers. The providers had made some gains recently, and the state had seen some positive benefits, said Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad.

"These are actual direct services to our most vulnerable citizens," she said. "This is a morale issue far more than a budgetary issue."

Appropriations Committee Chairman Lavon Heidemann said that if the committee reversed the proposal in Gov. Dave Heineman's budget to take away that $20.9 million, the amount would have to be made up elsewhere.

"That makes me nervous about where you're going to hit someplace else," Heidemann said.

Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton said his concern was that provider rate increases were for the private sector, which has to react to the marketplace in competing for employees and running businesses.

The committee had looked at a proposal to restore half of the increase amounts, but even that would have been $11 million.

"Restoring half is probably larger than we can afford to do," said Sen. John Wightman of Lexington.

Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff said the vote was "very painful for me." It was hard for him to accept reductions in provider raises, but at the same time, he said, he didn't know where else in the budget senators would find $21 million.

Several committee members talked about how tight the budget could be in the 2011-13 cycle unless the economy turns around drastically.

"If we don't focus on (those future years), we will really be in trouble," Harms said.

Including the cuts the committee restored on Wednesday, said Wightman, "I don't think we're going to come out of this special session with a balanced budget."

That is, unless the Legislature dips into the cash reserve or goes deeper with other cuts, he said.

The possibility of raising taxes is not included by the governor in other remedies the Legislature could use.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.

© Copyright 2009, JournalStar.com, 926 P Street Lincoln, NE

REPOSTED WITH CORRECTED LINKS: New Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

July 1, 2009 the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health was established through the reorganization of the former Department of Human Resources. We recently received an organizational chart and a guide to services for the new Department and attended the first Board Meeting of BHDD last Friday, August 28th. Commissioner Frank Shelp presented the budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. Take a quick look at the PowerPoint Presentation from the meeting.

New Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

July 1, 2009 the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health was established through the reorganization of the former Department of Human Resources. We recently received an organizational chart and a guide to services for the new Department and attended the first Board Meeting of BHDD last Friday, August 28th. Commissioner Frank Shelp presented the budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. Take a quick look at the PowerPoint Presentation from the meeting.

Senator Jack Hill's analysis of the Quality Assessment Fees

Medicaid currently relies on around $90M from a 5.5% CMO “Quality Assessment Fee” that provides funds to the Medicaid population. These fees are used to “draw down” enhanced federal funds and do not have a negative impact on the CMOs. The Federal Agency with Medicaid responsibility has ruled that states like Georgia cannot assess a fee on one Medicaid provider without assessing the same fee on all health care providers. You can’t treat a Medicaid provider differently from other providers like insurance companies. So Georgia is faced with a choice which must be made and implemented by October 1, 2009. Either stop taxing the care management companies and create a $90M hole in the 2010 budget or start assessing insurance companies the same amount. Governor Perdue has proposed to lower the assessment fee from 5.5% to 1.6% but to apply the fee to insurance companies and to the net revenue of hospitals. In other words, all health care providers will be subject to this fee. The total produced by the fee would continue the $90M presently collected as well as plug a Medicaid shortfall created by the prior use of one-time reserve funds. This amount is $204.9M. The total of $217M would also pay for increased Medicaid demand and fund $60M towards a Trauma fund for hospitals. The Hospital piece of the funding, $259M has been met with strong objections by hospitals around the state. Rural hospitals particularly say they would be hard hit and that the fee has the potential to put some out of business. This is one of the crucial issues before this General Assembly. The Governor’s proposal does not appear to have widespread legislative support.

Atlanta Journal Constitution letter to the editor

Thank you to Joni Pelta for writing this letter and sharing with us that it was printed.

READERS WRITE
By Joni Pelta, Robert W. Keeler, A. Jean Richardson

For the Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Perdue needs to get hooked on special-needs kids

Every January brings the same rituals to Georgia. There’s a cold snap and a hard freeze. The Legislature resumes work under the Gold Dome. Special-needs parents and supporters must lobby hard to get funding for their loved ones’ programs.

I realize this year that state sales tax and other revenues are down as the economy stagnates. If the pie that all government programs feed from has shrunk, all worthy groups have to work even harder to grab their meager crumbs. That I can accept.

What rankles this parent of a special-needs child is that while Gov. Sonny Perdue and his staff nibble yearly to cut the crumbs of funding from special-needs programs, somehow there is $23 million for Perdue’s Go Fish project in Perry. Fishing is a fun, worthy hobby. However, why is building fishing facilities a bigger priority than those with special needs? Why is there never enough money to get the more than 6,700 people with special needs off the state waiting list and receive the services they need to become active, contributing members of society?

JONI PELTA

Atlanta

What do you think? Go to www.unlockthewaitinglists.com to learn more.

6,812 Georgians with Developmental Disabilities Wait for Help

This story came out last thursday on Savannah's WSAV-TV.

To see the video clip that went with this online story, click here.

I want to thank the Arc of Effingham's Nina Dasher for her help in making this story happen at the last minute. To learn more about the Arc of Georgia's efforts, click here. Also thank you to all those families on the waiting list who had very important stories to tell as well that I called throughout the afternoon. Note that they got the number of waiting wrong - they were using numbers from December - it is now 6,812 for people with DD and 138 for people with physical disabilities. For a list of cuts, go to the Unlock website.

State lawmakers continue looking for ways to cut two billion dollars in spending, as Georgia faces a historic budget shortfall.

The Governor’s proposed budget includes cutting $428 million to lower property taxes, $350 million dollars in cuts to education, plus cuts to transportation, prisons, and healthcare.

One area facing critical cuts is special needs service programs for the developmentally disabled, specifically developmental disability waivers. The waivers help families with providing special services and care—like mental health benefits, wheelchair ramps, and at-home caretakers— for their loved ones.

Jennifer Lanier, 37, lives with disabilities most of us can’t imagine. “Mental health status, and disability status… I had back surgery, and I suffer with schizophrenia… a developmental disability also,“ says Jennifer. Jennifer lives with a family friend but spends most of her time confined indoors.

“Either go to doctor’s appointments, or stay at home and put puzzles together,“ she says. Jennifer has qualified for a developmental disability waiver from the state that would help her in a number of ways. “Transportation, that’s a big thing I have a big problem with, because you have to call 3 days in advance to get the Medicaid van,“ she explains.

But advocate Nina Dasher says Jennifer is one of 6,700 hundred Georgians and their families on a waiting list for this assistance.“When you have a developmental disability, your functioning is that of a child most of the time, and that takes constant care for a lifetime,“ says Dasher, who herself cares for an 18 year-old granddaughter with developmental disabilities.

Dasher says Governor Perdue’s current budget includes no money for the program.

“It’ll be at least 18 months before anybody else with a developmental disability will get on that waiver, and as the population that has the waivers when they die, that money is not being left in the budget,“ she says.Joyce Arnsdorff says she’s happy to open her home to Jennifer but wishes the government could do more to help.

“It’s like they say, ‘Well, you know you need to be taken care of, so we’re going to take care of you, but we’re not going to do as much as you need,‘“ she says.

Advocates for Georgians with developmental disabilities have started a campaign called Unlock the Waiting Lists to try to reduce the number of people waiting for these services.

To see the video clip that went with this online story, click here.

Last week's Legislative Round Up

Last week, in a joint session of House and Senate Appropriations committees, legislators questioned agency heads about their budgets. The Departments of Human Resources and Community Health presented their FY09 and FY10 state budget proposals. For a list of budget cuts that will impact people with disabilities, go to the Unlock the Waiting Lists Action Alert page. There will be no new community supports for people with disabilities waiting in community for help for at least 18 months if the House and Senate accept this budget proposal.

The Department of Human Resources has proposed FY2009 budget cuts to the Governor that will leave our most vulnerable families and individuals even more at risk. While there supports for 150 DD services and 100 persons with physical disabilities to transition from institutions to the community, there are no disability supports for the over 6,900 people current on Georgia’s waiting list. We are afraid that with no new supports for these community waiting lists, we will be cutting Georgia's ability to support our most vulnerable.

We are asking Governor Perdue and our legislators to not cut funds for existing disability supports or contracts, rate increases, or developmental disability waiver slots in the Department of Human Resources or Community Health Budgets. Please help to protect these much needed supports for people with disabilities by encouraging Georgia’s General Assembly to look for revenue solutions to serve our most vulnerable citizens during these hard economic times.

Lawmakers also heard troubling state tax revenue forecasts. Economist Kenneth Heaghney projected that even if Georgia cuts its budget by $2 B (about 10%), tax revenues will still produce $600 M less than is needed in FY 2011 (beginning July 2010). He believes such shortfalls will continue for at least three years and says officials could have to decide whether to cut further or raise revenues. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute experts point to structural deficiencies in the taxation system they say must be addressed. See The Georgia Budget and Policy Insitute.

The federal stimulus package could bring Georgia $5.6 Billion. President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan could bring some near-term relief, and experts say it could create 143,000 jobs here. Now being marked up in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the plan includes such measures as tax cuts, spending on infrastructure projects, unemployment insurance, fiscal relief for Medicaid, and help with COBRA coverage for people losing jobs. The President wants a bill by mid-February, although it is drawing opposition in some quarters, including from some of Georgia’s delegation.

The General Assembly reconvenes today, January 26th. The House opens at 10:00 a.m. and the Senate begins at 1:00 p.m.

The Governor's Budget Address

Governor Perdue delivered his State of the State Address yesterday. Included in this address was his budget proposals for amended budget for Fiscal Year 2009 and his full budget for Fiscal Year 2010.

His speech can be found at on his website. Some highlights include:

The Governor thanked the legislature for working with his administration to help replenish the Rainy Day Fund, which now stands at $1.2 billion. In these budgets, Governor Perdue recommended using the maximum amount available for appropriation from the reserves, appropriating $187 million for the education midyear adjustment, $50 million in 2009 and $408 million in 2010. In 2009, a number of one-time strategies unavailable in 2010 will be implemented to balance the budget. Therefore, Governor Perdue recommended the largest portion of available reserve funds be committed to the 2010 budget.

Governor Perdue also outlined a proposal to restructure the Department of Human Resources. Currently, $3.8 billion is spent within DHR every year. The plan calls for the creation of a new Department of Behavioral Health which will include all mental health and addictive disease programs. The bill also establishes a Department of Health, a combination of the public health and oversight programs in DHR and the current functions of DHR. Remaining social services, such as Developmental Disabilities, Aging, DFCS and Child Support, will come together under a reconstituted Department of Human Services.

Governor Perdue will also introduce legislation to ask those who receive Medicaid payments to help fund the system. This proposal takes advantage of the fact that every dollar used toward Medicaid purposes draws down almost two additional dollars from the federal government. The budget will reflect, and an accompanying bill will propose, a 1.6 percent fee on hospitals and health insurance plans to, not only fill the hole in Medicaid, but also to do what the healthcare community has asked of Governor Perdue’s administration. This proposal will significantly raise Medicaid rates, particularly for hospitals; and in conjunction with the SuperSpeeder legislation, provide $60 million for trauma to sustain and expand the state’s trauma hospitals, EMS and trauma physician infrastructure.

Video of the Governor's Speech can be found here.

To see an update on the budget, go to http://www.unlockthewaitinglists.com/

Unlock the Waiting List Information

The Senate and House approved their budget recommendations, sending to the Governor a budget that includes 500 Mental Retardation Waiver Program (MRWP) services, 175 Independent Care Waiver Programs (ICWP) slots and a 3% rate increase for providers of DD and ICWP supports!

Click here for a complete list of budget items with dollar amounts.

Given the uncertainty in the economy, this additional funding for community supports is good news! We are thankful to the General Assembly for their support. We also know that the reality is that at the current level of funding, Georgia's waiting list for these supports will be more next year than today – not less.

There are currently 5,542 people on the MRWP community waiting list with this list growing by over 1,000 people annually. Also, while there are more than 129 individuals officially waiting for ICWP supports, we know that there are thousands living right now in nursing homes and other facilities that could benefit from the ICWP support.

The budget now goes to Governor Perdue for his signature. The Governor has until May 14th to sign the FY2009 budget into law. He can also decide to veto any specific funding item while approving the remainder of the bill.