|
|
|
| NC CHILD CARE C OALITION 2006 SHORT SESSION ALERT # 8 HOUSE HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE VOTES OUT ITS PART OF THE BUDGET EARLY THIS EVENING Thursday, June 8, 2006 THE ISSUE After waiting over four hours for the subcommittee to begin, House HHS Appropriations Subcommittee met for about an hour to unveil its part of the budget and to allow for some amendments. Below are the details in the budget related to our issues. After the House finishes its entire budget, a Governor-Senate-House Comparison chart will be written to be used when we contact House and Senate budget conferees. 1. Child Care Subsidy : $15,096,395 Provides funding to maintain existing caseload and remove 1,752 children from the waiting list. Additional funding in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant for child care subsidy will remove 4,054 children from the waiting list. (Less state funds; more children from waiting list served but with next year only TANF funds, and NO child care subsidy reimbursement rate increase for providers. ) Block Grants will be detailed in our comparison chart. There is one new subsidy special provision that needs further review before writing about it. 2. Smart Start : $10,000,000 Provides funding for local Smart Start initiatives, including subsidized child care. In addition, $3,000,000 in receipts from the NC Education Lottery will replace a portion of the funding that local Smart Start partnerships provide to support the More at Four program. Rep. Farmer-Butterfield successfully handled an amendment that directs $400,000 from the $10 million for NCPC administration. There is one Smart Start special provision that needs more review from us before writing about it. Governor: $10 million; Senate: $14 million. This is unacceptable ! 3. T.E.A.C.H Program : $1,000,000 (NR) Provides funding to the North Carolina T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood ® Project. This is the same as the Senate budget. That means the $1 million is set for next fiscal year and will not be discussed in the Conference Committee. Other Items of Interest 1. The Education and Health & Human Services subcommittees leaves More at Four where it currently resides by not including the Senate special provision moving More at Four to DPI. Note : You can be assured the Governor's folks will be fighting hard to get this back in the House budget, probably in Full Appropriations on Tuesday. 2. More at Four Expansion Through Lottery Proceeds: House budget: funds for 2,800 additional slots, a $200 per slot increase, and funds for three additional staff positions. Senate budget: funds for 3,200 additional slots, a $200 per slot increase, and funds for five staff positions (two are for DPI staff. House probably eliminated the two positions because House budget does not move More at Four to DPI… at least not yet! Continued . . Page two: House Health & Human Services Subcommittee Budget 3. Early Intervention: $8,020,968 (R) Senate budget has $7,103,147 4. Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credit: It is pretty sure that a small tax credit ($200) per employee will be in the House budget to assist for-profit businesses with fewer than 25 employees who pay at least 50% of the cost of their full time employees' health insurance premiums. Senate budget has money set aside for further tax relief, possibly a credit for small businesses. NEXT STEP IN THE PROCESS At this moment, the plan is for the Full House Appropriations Committee to meet on Tuesday, time yet to be determined but probably in the morning. The meeting will be in Room 643. At that time the different subcommittees will present their parts of the budget. There will also be a Finance package included. Then amendments will be offered and voted on up or down. The process should take hours. The budget bill will be voted out of the Committee and then voted on by all the House members on the House floor Wednesday and Thursday. If the schedule stays on track, House and Senate Conferees will be appointed to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions. Their goal is to have a budget finished by the end of the fiscal year, June 30. That would give the Conference Committee two weeks to work. Prediction: Doable! ACTION NEEDED At this point, it will be very, very difficult to make many big changes in the House budget. But if you are so inclined to contact your House members now, let them know we are happy about T.E.A.C.H., happy with the funding to remove more children from the child care subsidy waiting list and Unhappy with the House funding for Smart Start and with no rate increase for child care providers. Reminder: Both Smart Start and Child Care Subsidy funding are different in the Senate budget. That means both items will be debated in the Conference Committee.
|
