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With about two weeks remaining in the 2010 General Assembly session, we reached the point at which the Senate and House of Delegates vote on the budget. The week began with the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees announcing their amendments to Governor Kaine's introduced budget. Both Committees opted to reinstate $950 million per year to provide car tax relief, so we knew additional cuts would be necessary to balance the budget. The Senate opted to raise fees to protect certain areas of government from additional cuts, whereas the House of Delegates took a hard line against fees. The two budgets, therefore, are markedly different. As with any piece of legislation, the full House and Senate voted on the budget bills, which will now crossover to the other body. The process is leading up to putting the budget bill into a conference committee, which will have the challenging task of meting out a compromise. The Senate passed a balanced budget that will help retain jobs, such as teachers, health care professionals, and law enforcement, and ensure the public has access to state services during these difficult economic times. Although no budget is perfect, the Senate budget protects our core priorities to the maximum extent possible. One of the most controversial matters with respect to education was Governor Kaine's proposal to freeze the Local Composite Index for the next fiscal year. The decision hurt some localities while benefitting others. The Senate opted to implement the new rates and hold harmless any localities that would have lost funds as a result. The budget yields a net general fund reduction to education of $133 million, which is far less than the $731 million proposed by Governor McDonnell and the $679 million in cuts approved by the House of Delegates. In addition to minimizing reductions to K-12 education, we provide local school divisions with added flexibility in order to meet the needs of students with limited resources. In the area of higher education, the Senate budget does not include any additional reductions beyond those included in the introduced budget. The Senate eliminated the proposal to require colleges and universities to transfer five percent of auxiliary balances to the state. The proposed transfer was unprecedented and identified by our institutions of higher learning as a high priority. The introduced budget included a number of reductions to the health care safety net, including cuts to free clinics and community health centers, at a time when demand for services is increasing because so many people are unemployed or lack health insurance. The Senate budget restored those cuts. The introduced budget also included significant reductions in Medicaid provider rates and a freeze on programs, which ultimately could cost thousands of jobs in the health care field and eliminate services for some of our most vulnerable citizens. The Senate budget will delay the implementation of many of these cuts provided the Commonwealth receives additional federal Medicaid dollars. The Senate budget also restores a number of cuts in the introduced budget to public safety. We provide an additional $81 million for sheriffs and maintain a ratio of one deputy per 1,500 citizens. Furthermore, we increase the funding for commonwealths attorneys by $20 million. At the same time, the Senate budget contains language promoting the use of alternatives to incarceration. The budget also includes my budget amendments to provide funding to Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. All of these actions should allow us to close an additional correctional center and keep our communities safe. While many areas of our budget are grim, I am pleased that the Senate took positive action in the area of economic development and natural resources. Our budget provides $67.1 million in Economic Development Incentive Payments to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. The Senate also restored funding for the Coyote Control Program and the state meat inspection program. These two programs are vital to farmers in my district. Although the House budget includes a number of amendments about which I have concerns, I will note that the House of Delegates approved an amendment that would strip almost one million dollars over the biennium from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The Commonwealth of Virginia has worked diligently over the past several
years to streamline state government while protecting core services in order
to balance the budget. We have eliminated hundreds of state employee positions
and foregone providing raises to our public workforce. Our state employees
will again shoulder some of the burden, although the Senate does provide
some positive news. The Senate adopted a three day furlough for state employees
for the next two years, rather than the five day suggestion put forward
by Governor McDonnell. The Senate is also putting off payments to the Virginia
Retirement System in order to save resources, which will be offset in part
by significant changes we are making to VRS for new hires. In recognition
of the hard work of our state employees throughout these demanding times,
we did endorse a three percent bonus for state employees in December 2011.
(Electronic mail, February 26, 2010)
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