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California Budget Crisis: (Monday, August 30, 2010)
STATE SENATE & ASSEMBLY SCHEDULES BUDGET VOTE TUESDAY MORNING THOUGH NO
AGREEMENT IN SIGHT ON HOW TO CLOSE OVER $19 BILLION DEFICIT
State Will Enter Day 62 Without A Budget As
Crisis Continues – Budget Delay Impact Spreading With One Day Left In
2010 Regular Legislative Session – Deadline to Pass Any Bill (Other Than
Budget) August 31st
SACRAMENTO - With California
now entering its 62nd day without a State budget, and with no
agreement in sight, the State Legislature has scheduled a largely
symbolic vote Tuesday morning (August 31) on two widely different budget
plans one proposed by Legislative
Democrats and the other containing the proposals made by the Governor in
January (as revised in May with some changes in recent weeks). The State
budget year for 2010-2011 began officially on July 1, 2010.
Neither proposed plan however
has the 54 votes in the Assembly and 27 votes needed in the State Senate
required by the State Constitution to pass a State budget. With major
disagreements on how to close the over $19 billion budget hole – and
prospects of ongoing deficits in 2011-2012 and beyond, none of the
Democratic or Republican legislative leaders or the Governor offered any
date when they believed a budget deal would be reached.
The floor vote on the State
budget plans comes on the final day to pass bills from the 2010 regular
legislative session.
Both Houses Scheduled to Meet At 10 AM Tuesday
The State Senate recessed
Monday evening just before 9 PM, with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg (Democrat – Sacramento) telling members that debate and a vote
on the two budget plans would take place beginning at 10:00 AM Tuesday
morning for about two hours. Following that, Steinberg said at around
noon the State Senate would resume taking final action on between 50 but
probably no more than a total of 60 bills – about 30 Assembly bills and
30 Senate bills and hoped to adjourn the session early Tuesday evening.
Steinberg said at the end of
the Monday evening State Senate session that “we will have a good,
robust civil debate” on the
two budget proposals on Tuesday morning.
The Assembly recessed its
floor session after the State Senate Tuesday evening and also will
return at 10:00 AM Tuesday morning.
Governor Could Call Another Special Session
The State Constitution sets a
deadline of August 31st for the Legislature to pass any bill,
and that final recess of the 2010 regular Legislative Session begins
immediately after adjournment on August 31st.
That means any regular bill
introduced in 2009 and 2010 and still “alive” must pass by the end of
the day August 31st or else it is “dead”.
With the State budget still
not passed – and no agreement in sight – the Legislature will be forced
to return to the State Capitol to eventually resolve the stalemate, even
if no further “regular” bills can pass from the 2010 Legislative
session. There are a couple of ways the Legislature will be able to take
action on the State Budget and budget related bills – whenever an
agreement is reached among the legislative leaders and Governor:
·
SPECIAL SESSION:
Governor could call for another special session (referred to as
“extraordinary sessions”) in order for the Legislature to continue
meeting and to eventually vote and pass a budget and budget related
bills.
·
FISCAL EMERGENCY: The Governor
could also issue another proclamation declaring a “fiscal emergency”
under the State Constitution that would set a time table on when the
Legislature needed to respond – though it does not require a specific
response (meaning it doesn’t require the Legislature to actually pass a
budget)/
·
STATE CONSTITUTION - In theory
the State Constitution allows the Legislature to pass certain types of
bills after September 1st – appropriations bills and urgency
bills (bills dealing with an
emergency) and over-rides of vetoes by the Governor. Note: the budget
and nearly all the budget related bills – referred to as “budget trailer
bills” because they follow or trail the main budget bill – are “urgency”
bills that take effect immediately when signed by the Governor).
Other Next Steps
·
LEGISLATURE – with no
agreement among the legislative leaders and Governor in sight, it seems
likely that after September 1st, there will be no floor
sessions until sometime after the Labor Day weekend. Beyond that it is
not yet clear whether the Budget Conference Committee will meet again –
or if other committees dealing with certain unresolved budget issues,
will meet in September or later.
·
GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATIVE
LEADERS – the Governor and Legislature could meet later this week before
to resume talks on the budget, though no agreement is in sight to close
the over $19 billion budget hole. Meanwhile the Governor made it clear
he intends to continue on with his 6 day trip to Asia to promote
California business next week whether there is a State budget in place
or not.
BUDGET DELAY IMPACT – in
addition to actual cuts made to the State budget last February and July
2009 – and additional major cuts that will likely be part of any final
2010-2011 State Budget that is eventually passed, the impact of further
delay on passage of the State budget is having a growing impact on
critical services and supports to children and adults with developmental
and other disabilities, mental health needs, people with MS, Alzheimer’s
and other disorders, people with traumatic brain and other injuries, the
deaf, the blind, seniors, their families, regional centers, and
thousands of Medi-Cal, regional center funded, senior services and other
providers across the State. In September many will begin running out of
cash reserves or loans.
This information comes from the CDCA
Network:
Marty Omoto, director/organizer
California Disability Community
Action Network
1225 8th Street Suite 480 Sacramento, CA
95814 VOICE PHONE: 916/446-0013
FAX number: 916/446-0026
email:
martyomoto@rcip.com
STATE AUDITOR RELEASES AUDIT REPORT ON DEPT OF DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES
AND REGIONAL CENTERS – FOCUS ON PROVIDER RATE RELATED ISSUES
Audit One of Several Covering Different Issues
and Departments – Report Was Originally Requested by Assemblymember De
La Torre in Spring 2009
SACRAMENTO - While the state’s budget crisis remains unresolved with no
agreement in sight to close the over $19 billion budget deficit, the
non-partisan independent State Auditor released today a report on the
Department of Developmental Services and the 21 non-profit regional
centers it contracts to coordinate services and supports to over 240,000
children and adults with developmental disabilities, and found that
while the department has “sufficient processes” to ensure that those
services are “allowable under law”, it does not have “adequate”
processes in place to ensure that those costs are “reasonable.” The
audit report however appeared to indicate that the department has or is
in the process of addressing the major issues raised in the audit.
The 91 page report, titled
“A More Uniform and Transparent
Procurement and Rate-Setting Process Would Improve the
Cost-Effectiveness of Regional Centers” and was released on behalf
of State Auditor Elaine Howle by Doug Cordiner, Chief Deputy Auditor
(State Auditor Report 2009-118) can be viewed here:
BSA
Report.
California Budget Crisis: (Monday, August 2, 2010)
US Senate Backs Off On Medicaid Increase Extension
No Agreement In Sight On How To Close Over $19
Billion State Budget Shortfall As California Goes Into Its 33rd
Day Without A Budget
SACRAMENTO - US Senate
Democrats in Washington, DC backed off from calling for a vote Monday
evening on a federal bill with new amendments that would have allocated
$16.1 billion to partially extend the temporary increase in Medicaid
matching funding to the states including California that are
experiencing enormous state budget shortfalls. The proposed amendments
would also have provided $10 billion in additional funding to local
educational agencies.
US Senate Democratic leaders
decided against calling for a vote after it was clear that there were
not the needed 60 votes to end debate to allow a final vote on the
measure.
The new proposal is a
dramatically scaled back version – referred to as a “phased down”
approach - of several previous unsuccessful attempts by US Senate
Democrats to pass a 6 month extension of the full amount of the
temporary increase in Medicaid funding to the states.
Any slim hope of getting the
60 votes to end debate on the bill vanished after the release of the
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the bill’s
overall cost which showed that its price tag was bigger than previous
estimates – and that not all of its costs were off set by other spending
cuts or savings to pay for it – a position that some moderate US Senate
Democrats and Republicans have made as a condition to support the bill.
US House of Representatives In Recess – Would Need To Approve Any
Extension
The US House of
Representatives in previous legislation, omitted extending that
temporary Medicaid increase, and is currently in recess until
mid-September. Any action by the US Senate to extend the Medicaid
increase funding would still also need approval from the House.
Current Version of Federal Bill Would Only Partially Extend Medicaid
Increase
·
In an effort to gain the votes
of moderate US Senate Democrats and Republicans, the amendments offered
by US Senate Democratic leaders to HR 1586 (which currently deals with
the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act)
would have significantly scaled back the extension of the temporary
Medicaid funding increase.
·
Under the proposed amendment,
the states (including California) would receive from January 1 to March
31, 2011 (the second quarter of the 2010-2011 federal budget year that
begins October 1), a 3.2% increase (instead of an extension of the full
6.2% increase), that would drop further, beginning April 1st
through June 30, 2011, to a 1.2% temporary increase in the Medicaid
funding (the third quarter of the federal budget year).
·
It is not certain now whether
even this “phased down” approach in extending the temporary Medicaid
increase will survive or if further reductions to the overall cost will
still need to be made in order to gain enough votes for passage.
·
It is not known yet what
California’s share would be under the new scaled back formula.
·
US Senate Democratic leaders
originally had hoped as late as early June for a six month extension of
the full 6.2% temporary Medicaid matching fund increase that would have
cost $24 billion – but that now appears more and more likely out of
reach – though advocates are still making efforts to push for that full
extension.
Issue Has Major Impact to the Budget Shortfalls In Nearly Every State
The issue has major impact to
the states – with nearly every state experiencing some level of budget
shortfalls.
All the states including
California received beginning on October 1, 2008,
a temporary two year increase of 6.2% in their federal Medicaid
matching funds as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) that allocated $87 billion for the two year increase.
California’s share of that funding over two years was about $11 billion.
That temporary increase,
unless it is extended by Congress, is set to expire December 31, 2010.
Next Steps: US Senate Democrats May Push For Scaled Back Bill Wednesday
·
US Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (Democrat – Nevada) indicated that US Senate Democrats may
push for a scaled back education funding bill possibly on Wednesday
(August 4th), though it was not clear if some version of the
already reduced temporary Medicaid funding increase extension would
still remain in it.
·
But time is running out, with
the US Senate scrambling to take final action on several other major
issues, including the confirmation vote of Elena Kagan, President
Obama’s nominee to the US Supreme Court, before it recesses August 9th
through September 10th
·
Even if the US Senate is able
to pass some extension of the Medicaid temporary funding increase – the
US House of Representatives – would need to approve it too.
·
The US House of
Representatives began its recess last week after adjournment on Friday
(July 30th) and is not scheduled to return to Washington DC
until September 13th, with a October 8th targeted
adjournment date until the November elections.
Major Impact to California’s $19 Billion Shortfall
Whatever the US Congress does
– or does not do regarding the temporary Medicaid matching funding
extension, it will have enormous impact on California’s current budget
crisis.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
assumed in his proposed State Budget for 2010-2011 last January that the
extension would be approved at the level of the current temporary
increase of 6.2% , which would mean about $1.8 billion in additional
federal Medicaid dollars for the State from January 1, 2011 to June 30,
2011.
That amount however would be
far less under the scaled back version of the bill that the US Senate is
considering.
And if Congress doesn’t pass
any extension – which seems more and more likely now, California’s
budget deficit could swell by nearly $2 billion more – from the current
shortfall of about $19 billion growing to $21 billion and will likely
increase pressure for more sweeping spending cuts, especially to
programs and services impacting people with disabilities, mental health
needs, senior and low income families.
This information comes from the CDCA
Network:
Marty Omoto, director/organizer
California Disability Community
Action Network
1225 8th Street Suite 480 Sacramento, CA
95814 VOICE PHONE: 916/446-0013
FAX number: 916/446-0026
email:
martyomoto@rcip.com
