Democrats Question Optimism In Scott’s Budget

February 7, 2015

House Democrats tried to poke holes in Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed $77 billion budget, highlighting the use of expiring federal health-care dollars as a sign that the spending plan isn’t serious.

Democrats grilled Scott’s budget director, Cynthia Kelly, during a presentation before the House Appropriations Committee about Scott’s proposal for the budget year that begins July 1. Many of their questions focused on $2 billion pot of health-care money — more than $1 billion of which is federal money that the government might no longer provide — that Scott included despite the fact that the program is set to expire June 30.

Kelly said officials with the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration were meeting with federal officials Tuesday trying to negotiate an extension of the Low Income Pool, or “LIP,” program. The federal government extended the program during the current budget year, but has given state officials no guarantees that LIP will be renewed again.

“It is my understanding that they are hopeful that they will be able to get an extension on those LIP funds and, that’s why we included in our budget recommendations the continuation of the LIP program as it currently stands,” Kelly said.

Democrats weren’t satisfied with the explanation. The LIP program provides extra money to hospitals and other types of health providers that care for large numbers of poor and uninsured patients.

“My concern is, are we being fiscally irresponsible by including those dollars in this proposed budget when there is a very real chance and likelihood that those dollars will go away?” said Rep. Janet Cruz of Tampa, the top Democrat on the committee.

Kelly did not directly answer a question from House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, about whether Scott’s administration had a plan for how to balance the budget if the LIP money isn’t available.

“It’s February and we have until June. If I were proposing a budget and I had four months to look at this big amount of money, I would be zeroing this out and proposing something that offers an alternate option,” Cruz said after the meeting.

Republicans, who dominate the Legislature and will have much more to do with deciding which parts of Scott’s plan become law, were largely silent during the hour-long discussion of budget issues. But GOP lawmakers have indicated they’re unlikely to embrace Scott’s $77 billion budget without significant changes.

Democrats also focused on Scott’s drive to continue to cut positions from the state workforce. His plan would reduce the state’s payroll by more than 1,000 full-time positions, slashing more than 1,350 jobs while adding more than 360 positions in other areas. Most of the cuts would come from the Department of Health, which would shed 758 full-time positions.

“Within the budget, you’ve identified that the governor is seeking to be number-one in the creation of jobs and I see that specifically for our health department we’re going to be losing 758 jobs,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville. “Can you talk to us about (this) loss of positions and how the two statements work together if we continue to reduce jobs?”

Kelly said Scott was focused on private-sector job growth, and that the governor has asked state agencies to try to find ways to reduce their workforce. More than 1,000 of the 1,350 posts set to be eliminated are already empty.

“I think that the vast majority of those, if not all of them, will become vacant by June 30. … As agencies are implementing the technology improvements and the process improvements, they’re able to identify areas for positions to be reduced,” she said.

Kelly is set to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. Scott will spend the afternoon in Bonita Springs to pitch a $470.9 million reduction in state taxes on cell-phone and television services that is one of the highlights of his plan.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News