Disability Budget Proposals

Budget Status (Thursday, July 2, 2009)

On June 29, 2009 Gov. Doyle signed into law AB-75, which was the next two-year state budget bill. This bill became Act 28. The legislature passed the budget at the end of last week and sent it to Gov. Doyle. He reviewed the bill over the weekend and signed the bill on Monday.

The bill has many items of interest to the disability community. The highlights include:

• Maintains eligibility standards and benefits for Medicaid, BadgerCare Plus, and SeniorCare;
• Provides insurance coverage for children with autism;
• Restructures Southern Wisconsin Center and encourages 70 residents to voluntarily return to the community within two years;
• Provides funds to increase the number of long-term support waiver slots for children with disabilities by 1000 over four years;
• Increases funding for elderly and disabled transportation by $1 million;
• Continues to expand Family Care statewide, but over three years instead of two;
• Creates a Transportation Manager (an agency) in non-Family Care counties;
• Creates a Resource Center to treat female inmates with mental illness;
• Creates the WI Quality Home Care Authority for home care workers hired by consumers;
• Maintains the ratio for the Family Care Ombudsman program of 1 advocate for every 2500 consumers and makes it available to IRIS participants;
• Maintains funding to the Lifespan Respite Care Program.
• Creates property tax exemptions for low-income housing providers;
• Reduces state funding to Independent Living Centers by 56% or over $500,000, but restores their base funding level in the next budget;
• Fails to increase the wages and benefits for direct care workers

For more information about the budget see DAWN's Issue Summary of the 2009-2011 State Biennial Budget.

Budget Status (Tuesday, June 9, 2009)

The Assembly will NOT meet on the floor on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 as previously announced. Action on the budget bill (AB-75) and a bill switching funding for the June 15 school aids payments will be taken on Thursday, June 11, 2009.  The delay was caused in part by a death in Rep. Ann Hraychuck’s family.

Budget Status (Wednesday, June 3, 2009)

The Joint Finance Committee finished its work on the state’s next two-year budget that ended on Friday, May 29, 2009.  The committee reviewed and took public comment on the Governor’s 2009-2011 proposed budget.  They made their own changes to it and now have sent it to the Assembly and state Senate for their consideration.

The Joint Finance budget is the byproduct of a very weak economy and the worst deficit in Wisconsin history.   The committee’s deliberations were set back a month ago when it was announced that the state had an additional budget shortfall of $1.6 billion. The news forced lawmakers and the Governor to regroup and work out new strategies to close the deficit. 

While Governor Doyle’s original proposal filled the hole in the budget with a combination of spending cuts, new revenue streams, and an infusion of federal stimulus dollars, the revised plan makes deeper across-the-board cuts.  It creates $274 million in new revenue generated from enhanced hospital assessment and a new assessment on day surgery clinics, capturing additional federal dollars to pay for health care.

The Governor’s original plan called for a 1% across-the-board cut in all state programs and services.  The revised budget makes even more cuts of up to 5%, totaling some $412 million, plus an additional $190 million in Medicaid cuts.  The budget plan directs agencies to find savings and return the money to the state’s General Fund.  At this time there are few specifics about how this will be accomplished or accounted for. 

The Joint Finance budget also makes cuts in two areas that are typically off limits: State aid to local governments (shared revenue), which will be cut by a total of 3.5% ($29 million), and school funding which is cut by more than $500 million.  Many of the cuts to school funding is made up for by federal stimulus funds, however the real crunch will come in the next budget when the federal stimulus funds go away.

Lawmakers voted to close the “Las Vegas” corporate tax loophole and enacted the Combined Reporting reform, imposed a tax on oil company profits, and taxed capital gains at a higher rate (from 40% to 60%).  Many believe that Wisconsin’s budget problems are due, in part, to loopholes in our tax code and years of tax giveaways that have eroded revenue streams.  It is believed that these new revenue sources will put our state in a better financial position going into the next budget cycle.

The following are policy changes are included in the Joint Finance Committee’s budget:

• Repealing the qualified economic offer (QEO) on teachers, effective July 1, 2010, along with a repeal of the greater and greatest weighting of economic factors involving arbitration decisions for school district employees;
• Changing Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law;
• Creating “regional transit authorities” in certain parts of the state;
• Creating early release incentives for certain nonviolent offenders to save tax dollars;
• Overhauling the state’s welfare-to-work program, W-2;
• Requiring health insurance plans to cover treatment of autism, mental disorders, alcoholism and drug dependence;
• Establishing domestic partner benefits;
• Requiring greater accountability for school choice and charter schools;
• Creating a property tax exemption for certain senior and low income housing complexes;
• Postponing certain tax breaks adopted in the last budget cycle (for child care and health insurance expenses).

From now to the end of June, lawmakers from both houses of the legislature will debate this budget and vote on it.  It has been reported that as many as 700 amendments could be offered to it.  While most of those will be defeated, some changes are likely to be made, in the interest of getting enough votes to pass the bill.  Democrats in the Assembly hold a 52-46 majority (with one Independent).  Democrats in the Senate hold a 18-15 majority.

Some text provided courtesy of AFSCME.

Budget Status (Monday, June 1, 2009)

BUDGET STILL ON TRACK FOR PASSAGE BEFORE END OF MONTH
Assembly Democrats are expected to begin caucusing on the budget bill next Tuesday, June 9, and to take the two-year spending plan to the floor for a vote later in the week. The Senate, meanwhile, is expected to meet on non-budget bills on Tuesday, then spend the balance of the week reviewing the budget. If the Assembly should act quickly, it is possible the Senate could take the bill up late next week. Otherwise, the Senate will take up the bill the following week.

Courtesy of The Wheeler Report

Budget Status (May 5, 2009)

DEEPER CUTS, FURLOUGHS, LAYOFFS ANNOUNCED
Doyle this afternoon announced a series of deeper cuts to state agency budgets, furloughs for all state employees over the next two years and layoffs of up to 1100 state employees to overcome an anticipated additional $1.5 billion or more in reduced state income for the next two years. The year began with a $5.7 billion deficit, which was reduced by about $700 million in the budget adjustment bill. Administration officials now estimate the deficit at $6.5 billion or more. Doyle said he would not propose any new taxes.

An immediate victim of the revised spending plans will be elimination of the 2% pay raise currently set for non-represented state employees, which includes the UW System. A legislative committee is expected to meet soon to roll back the pay raises which take effect June 1. Non-represented employees total between 9,000 and 10,000. Further, Doyle said if state contracts cannot be reopened and reduced by the 2% figure, an estimated 400 employees would have to be laid off. And, because of spending cuts, an additional 700 employees will lose their jobs during the biennium. The furloughs will cover all state employees, except those positions requiring 24/7 coverage. Labor contracts now in place permit up to eight furlough days per calendar year.

The furloughs are expected to net savings of $120 million in each year of the biennium which begins July 1. Doyle said he personally could not be furloughed, but he plans to return eight days’ pay each year.

Part of the revised budget plan is to eliminate new spending and to increase the currently-proposed 1% across-the-board spending reductions. Additional spending reductions of 4% or more will be levied for most state agencies, which would be in addition to specific program cuts for those agencies. School aids and shared revenue will also be cut. Doyle said there will be cuts in the state’s Medical Assistance program, not in benefits, but possibly in provider payments.

Beyond that, officials are awaiting the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s latest revenue projections, expected next week, before putting a final number on the amount of the additional deficit. Administration officials are still working with legislative leaders on a proposal to achieve a balanced budget. They have not yet agreed on an approach.

Courtesy of The Wheeler Report

Budget Status (March 5, 2009)

Gov. Jim Doyle introduced his next two-year state budget on February 17, 2009.  This bill is AB-75 and serves as the basis for all state spending and revenue for the next two years starting July1, 2009.  Gov. Doyle was faced with having to fill a $5.9 billion shortfall in this budget before it even begins.  In order to do this, it meant having to cut some services, find other sources of revenue, and make state government more efficient. 

The bill has been sent to the Joint Finance Committee of the state legislature for their consideration.  They will hold a series of public hearings around the state at the end of March and early April 2009.  They will then spend April and May considering public comment and making changes to the governor’s proposal.  After they are finished with their work, AB-75 will be sent to the Assembly for possible adjustments by that house and then on to the Senate.  If both houses agree on a final version, the bill will be sent to the governor for his approval or veto.  This usually happens towards the end of June.

AB-75 has many items in it that should be of interest to the disability community.  These include:

• Maintains eligibility standards and benefits for Medicaid, BadgerCare Plus, and SeniorCare;
• Restructures Southern Wisconsin Center: encourages 100 residents to voluntarily return to the community within two years and expands the short term treatment program from 10 to 30 beds;
• Provides funds to increase the number of long-term support waiver slots for children with disabilities by 1000 over four years;
• Increases funding for the Birth to 3 Program by $2 million;
• Increases funds for Special Education, mostly through additional federal funds;
• Increases funding for elderly and disabled transportation by $1 million;
• Increases funding for vocational rehabilitation services, mostly through additional federal funds;
• Continues to expand Family Care statewide, but at a slower rate;
• Redesigns the CIP-1A program to fund community placements from the DD Centers at full plan costs;
• Creates a Transportation Manager (an agency) in non-Family Care counties;
• Creates a Resource Center to treat female inmates with mental illness;
• Creates incentives for counties to treat children and elderly with mental illness in the community rather than in institutions; and
• Increases funds for CSP, crisis intervention and CCS programs by $4 million over the two years.

In addition, AB-75 includes items that could be of concern to the disability community, such as:

• Reduces state funding to Independent Living Centers by 56% or over $500,000 (See Issue Below);
• Increases funding for special education by using federal funds but not the $80 million requested by DPI (See Issue Below);
• Creates a Quality Home Care Authority for home care workers hired by consumers;
• Increases fees by 27% for CBRFs, adult family homes and adult day care facilities;
• Fails to increase the wages and benefits for direct care workers (See Issue Below);
• Fails to provide rate increases for community providers and ADRCs;
• Family Care expands statewide in three years instead of two;
• Reduces the Guardianship Technical Assistance grants by $200,000;
• Eliminates the Lifespan Respite Care Program;
• Reduces Epilepsy grants by $33,000;
• Increases the ratio for the Family Care Ombudsman program from 1 advocate for every 2500 consumers to 1 to 3500;
• Provides additional funds for community-based mental health services, while also requiring counties to pay the state share of the cost for placements at the two mental health institutes; and
• Provides $1 million increase in disabled and elderly transportation but not the $6 million needed.

Please see DAWN's issue break down of the 2009-2011 WI state budget or read the final budget in detail for more information.

2009-2011 Budget Resources

• Center on Budget and Polict Priorities
• PEW Center Report on State Budgets
• BPDD Legislative Platform
• Survival Coalition Budget Press Release, Budget Paper, and Statement of Principles
• Arc-WI Talking Points
• WI Council for Children and Families Budget Analysis Summary
• Independent Living Centers Budget Cut
• Talking Points on ILC Budget Cuts
• Facts About the Cut to ILCs and Budget Impact on ILCs
• Independent Living Centers Achievements and ILC Brochure
• Wage Initiative for Caregivers and More Information
• Special Education Budget Information and DPI Budget Information
• Quality Home Care Authority Information
• People First Wisconsin Budget Priorities
• Survival Coalition Budget Positions, May 18, 2009
• Budget Press Release, June 4, 2009
• Restore Property Tax Exemption Memo

Archives

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• For the 2005-2007 budget