Medicaid vote a tough call for Democrats

Democratic legislators say they are torn about whether or not to vote against HB 5301, budget language pertaining to the state’s Medicaid program.

On one hand, they find a lot of good things in the legislation. At the top of their list is the ability for lower-wage state employees to enroll their children in the KidCare health insurance program, a hard-fought win for Democrats.

But there is another provision in the legislation that they dislike: the state’s attempt to force counties to pay back roughly $300 million in disputed Medicaid bills by withholding revenue sharing over 5 years. The legislation would require counties to either pay back 85 percent of the disputed bills, or they can pay the entire amount up front then prove to an administrative judge that the bills are incorrect and get credited money back.

Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, has pushed for the KidCare provision and said she was jubilant when she learned it was in this year’s budget. But she is still not sure how she’ll vote on HB 5301.

Tea Party defends counties in Medicaid billing dispute

Around Florida, Tea Party advocates are among the most vocal critics of local government spending and services. But this time, Tea partiers are siding with counties in their fight against the state.

The stakes: nearly $78 million in increased Medicaid costs.

The Florida Tea Party Network, a lose coalition of more than 80 groups around the state, has mobilized its members to lobby against the state’s attempt to force counties to pay back roughly $300 million in disputed Medicaid bills over 3 years.

The state wants to get that money, as well as future Medicaid payments, by withholding revenue sharing dollars from counties. That in an unfair burden on local governments that will hurt taxpayers, the Tea Party says.

Democrats say budget shortchanges schools

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, center, slammed the proposed budget on Wednesday during a press conference outside of the Capitol saying the spending plan shortchanges Florida's students.  [Scott Keeler, Times]

Democrats slammed the proposed budget on Wednesday, saying the spending plan shortchanges Florida's students.

"This budget, which is before the Legislature now, is an assault on education unlike anything we have seen in recent time," Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said.

Smith pointed out that the plan includes $300 million in cuts to higher education.

And while the budget boosts schools spending by $1 billion, it doesn't make up for the $1.3 billion in education cuts the previous year, he said.

Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, raised another issue: no construction and maintenance money for traditional public schools. Charter schools are set to receive $55 million.

"If we really want to make the state move forward, what we have to do is invest in the future," Gibbons said. "Investing in education is investing in our future."

Democrats were also critical of "pet projects," like the creation of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, a priority for outgoing Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander. 

Smith urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto the budget.

"If he means what he said, that he is the education governor, now is the time to prove it," Smith said.

DOT budget revives $ for parkway; raise questions about benefits to Alexander's undeveloped land

JD Alexander is close to getting the university he has wanted for Polk County.

He might be getting part of the road he has wished for, too.

Despite a $1.4 billion budget shortfall and at times heated rhetoric about finding ways to spend fewer state dollars, budget writers have tucked $34.7 million into this year's proposed spending plan for the design of a portion of the Heartland Parkway — a long-dormant road project in Central Florida.

If lawmakers approve the state's proposed transportation work plan, which includes billions of dollars for hundreds of other projects, about $18 million could be spent on the Polk project starting this summer. Another $16.7 million is earmarked for 2014 or 2015.

Alexander, a businessman worth more than $10 million and whose company owns a large ranch that could benefit if the entire road gets built, has advocated for the parkway in the past. As the Senate budget chairman, he holds huge sway in how every state dollar is spent. Story here.

Money for Everglades restoration is restored in legislative budget

A year after slashing Everglades funding, Florida lawmakers appear poised to give some back.

House and Senate budget negotiators this week agreed to set aside some $30 million for restoration projects. That’s still $10 million short of Gov. Rick Scott’s request but a major leap from the zero the Senate had initially penciled in.

Environmental groups praised the move as a positive sign, saying they were cautiously optimistic that it signaled a change in direction from last year’s tough session, when lawmakers and Scott gutted Everglades and conservation land-buying programs, state growth management rules and other long-standing regulations.

Now, they’re keeping their fingers crossed the trend will continue with a still-bigger target — a Senate bill that would lift spending caps lawmakers last year placed on the state’s five water management districts, which are largely funded by property tax revenue.

The Florida Conservation Coalition calculated that the cap, placed on property tax rates that supply much of the districts’ revenues, wound up shriveling budgets by nearly 40 percent, or $700 million. The law also shifted oversight of the agencies’ spending to the Legislature. Keep reading.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/01/2668074/everglades-may-get-boost-from.html#storylink=cpy

House, Senate agree on PreK-12 budget

The House and the Senate have reached a tentative agreement on the roughly $12.8 billion budget for PreK-12 education.

The budget funds an extra hour of reading instruction and other supplemental academic services at the 100 lowest-performing elementary schools. Specialized schools won't have to participate -- and students who achieve at the highest levels on the FCATs can opt out.

The cost: $30 million.

(The Senate had initially called for extra reading programs at all D- and F-rated elementary schools. That would have cost $119 million.)  

Additionally, the two chambers agreed to increase the award money for high-performing and improving schools from $70 per child to $85 per child.

And they decided to fund public television to the tune of almost $4 million.

Education Budget Conference Chairwoman Rep. Marti Coley, R-Marianna, said the spending plan "offers our students across the state an opportunity to receive a quality education."

Coley said she was pleased to reach a compromise in just two days.

"We may have made history," she jokingly said.

Demand rises for legal help for poor as funding declines

A mortar attack in Afghanistan and years of airborne jumps left former Army Sgt. Joaquin Tasis with lingering shoulder, back and knee pain, plus frequent memory loss and anxiety.

Even though the military discharged him because of his permanent injuries and he is unemployable, the red tape of the federal government repeatedly denied him disability payments.

Tasis, who could not afford a lawyer, turned to Legal Services of Greater Miami for help. After a year of legal wrangling, he prevailed and now receives about $1,000 a month to help support his wife and four children.

“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I could have done it,’’ he said. “The truth is, I don’t think I could have handled the paperwork.”

There may be fewer success stories like Tasis’ in 2012 as organizations that represent the poor in civil court matters experience a dramatic cut in federal and state funding even as demand for services is rising. Story here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/04/v-fullstory/2635369/legal-aid-organizations-hard-hit.html#storylink=cpy

House passes spending plan

The Florida House on Thursday passed its $69.2 billion budget proposal for 2012-13, putting the lower house far ahead of the Senate in the appropriations process. 

“This is a budget that meets the state’s needs, and only takes reductions where reductions can be withstood,” said Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

The final 79-38 vote, not surprisingly, fell along party lines. (Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, called the proposal half-witted, halfhearted “and one more half-word that I can’t say on the floor of the House.”)

Florida House: School districts should cut salaries, not close schools

The state House passed a divisive amendment to its budget proposal, prohibiting some school districts from closing schools without first slashing the salaries of top administrators.

Opponents said the amendment was a thinly veiled shot at the Seminole County school district, which recently threatened to close schools if the Legislature did not increase education funding.

Seminole certainly fits the bill.

The amendment applies only to school districts that have tried -- but failed -– to levy a half-penny sales tax, and have built new school facilities despite three years of declining student enrollment. The Seminole school system has come under fire for both.

What's more, the proposal came from Rep. Jason Brodeur, who represents a swath of Seminole.

Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, R-Miami, a former Miami-Dade School Board member, voiced support for the amendment, saying it was sound public policy.

“Closing schools is a very emotional thing to do to parents,” Logan said.

Democrats, however, said Tallahassee should mind its own business.

“This is a very dangerous amendment,” said Rep. Martin Kiar, D-Davie. “You are taking away local control and having Tallahassee make the decisions about what local school boards can or cannot do.”

House budget proposal irks college presidents

Members of the higher education community are up in arms over a proposal that cuts funding to most colleges — while giving extra money to three schools in north and central Florida.

The House spending plan awards about $800 million in general revenue to the Florida College System, most of which is divided up among the state’s 28 colleges based on a funding formula. 

But three colleges would share in an additional $8.5 million: Valencia, Chipola and Seminole State. 

Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón called the special allocations unfair, especially in such challenging economic times. 

“That’s not the way that it is supposed to work,” Padrón said. “There is a funding formula that was developed by way of consensus among the 28 college presidents. Traditionally, the Legislature has respected that.”

Rep. Marlene O’Toole, who chairs the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, said the $8.5 million came in after the budget was set — and that she chose to allocate it to several projects that had been on her desk.

“These are projects that I deemed worthy, so I put them in there,” said O’Toole, R-Lady Lake. “If we had taken that money and divided it up among all of the colleges, it wouldn’t have been significant.”

O’Toole will present the proposal on the House floor on Wednesday.

Continue reading here.