Conferee Budget - August 9, 2005

Social Services Consortium Members,

The Conference Report on the budget was released last night. You can find the HHS section of the conference report by going http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2005/Budget/BudgetReport2005.pdf and scroll down to page 41 on the PDF file (Section G1).

You can see the full budget bill by going to http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2005/Budget/S622-PCCS.pdf

The first thing you will probably notice is an unbelievable amount of “Pork” in the budget. There was a secret budget set aside for the Speakers and Pro Temp's office last session that they could privately funnel money to their pet projects. That money was exposed in a news article in the N&O so they decided this year to be more transparent in the “Pork” spending and the result is quite shocking. One report that I heard noted $50 million was spent in the budget on pet projects of leadership.

The budget contains the lottery with expanded advertisement - more then the House version allowed. It also calls for a 25 cent cigarette tax with an additional 5 cents added on next July (07). These issues along with some tax items in the budget means that currently the House does not have enough votes to pass the budget. Senator Basnight is threatening to leave on Saturday to put the pressure on the House to get the votes needed. The House doesn't want Basnight to close shop that quickly because they have a lot of bills they want to see passed that have been on hold since he shut down the Senate committee hearings in an effort to push the budget forward. The House and Senate are expected to begin votes on the budget today.

A couple of highlights for you until I can do a more thorough review of the special provisions:

  • The cut to Blind, Elderly, and Disabled was REMOVED!
  • Co-Payments were increased for Chiropractic, Optical, Podiatry, Hospital Outpatient, Non-Emergency ER visits and Generic Prescription drugs by $3.00 each.
  • Medicaid rates will freeze at the 04-05 FY rates for most providers.
  • Personal Care Services will be put under a utilization management system to reduce spending.
  • Moves children from 0-5 with incomes up to 200% of poverty from Health Choice to the Medicaid program
  • Provides additional funding for NC Health Choice in the first year to support children 6-18. Authorizes a cap at a 3% enrollment growth every 6 months. Program will pay 115% of Medicaid rates effective Jan 1, 2006 and 100% effective July 1, 2006 .
  • Increases the State/County SA rate from $1,084 per month to $1,118 per month per Oct 1, 2005 . Counties pay 50% and State 50%.
  • We received $2 Million for additional CPS workers to expand MRS!!!!
  • Child Advocacy centers received funding for equal grants-in-aid for each center.
  • System of Care for Child Mental Health received $2 million for participating county programs.
  • Child Care Subsidy received $3.6 million for FY 05-06 to maintain the current level of services. No money was allocated for FY 06-07.
  • Public Health Depts received $250,000 to establish a pilot program to fund interpreter services.
  • Funding of $2.5 million for an additional 50 school nurses that will participate in the Child and Family Support Teams.
  • NC FAST – they took out the $5.4 million in reserves for FY 05-07 and replaced it with $4.9 in FY 05-06 and $6M in 06-07.
  • Expanded More at Four by $16.640 for FY 05-06 and 06-07 for an additional 3,200 slots.