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Budget Update

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The regional centers in California rely on funding from the Federal and State government in order to provide services to consumers and their families. The State budget is of particular concern due to the immediate impact it has on regional center programs. The information provided on this page is intended to provide current summaries of budget issues which affect Far Northern Regional Center.


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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




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