Budget Compromise Eludes Negotiators

VHCA (3/12/2010)

The Budget Conferees for the House of Delegates and the State Senate continue to negotiate, but as of mid-day Friday have not reached a compromised agreement on the 2010-2011 biennial state budget.  Unless they can reach agreement by midnight or shortly thereafter, the General Assembly will not be able to adjourn as scheduled tomorrow, March 13.  It is promising, however, that there have been no complete breakdowns in negotiations as we have seen occasionally in recent years.

The Conferees report some progress, with each house backing off some priorities, but the major issues on which they cannot reach consensus are public school funding and various fee increases.  The Senate argues the House wants to cut too deeply in K-12 education.  The House argues that the Senate-proposed fee increases are hidden taxes, and they are not willing to raise taxes.

While the stalemate on education and fee increases is getting the most news coverage, the Conferees are meeting in small groups to negotiate other budget topics including health care funding.  They report, however, that progress has been slow on health care funding because they cannot agree on the amount of revenue to expect for the biennium – how much tax revenue to expect and what fee increases they will ultimately agree to accept.  The Conferees are under a great deal of pressure from their colleagues who are anxious to adjourn and go home.  VHCA continues to push conferees to accept the Senate Medicaid provision that uses FMAP Funds for Medicaid rather than the House provision that puts the FMAP Funds in a variety of non Medicaid programs.