Here's a budget priority for you

Let's talk state budget priorities for a moment, shall we?

Legislative leaders outlined a starting-point spending plan for the next two years that puts a priority on local school property-tax rate cuts but doesn't earmark money for new prisons, increased border security or reducing college tuition.

Those three areas are among the ones that would be left to duke it out for $2.5 billion remaining after leaders set aside most of the nearly $14.3 billion in new revenue to cover the promised cut in tax rates and basic needs such as growth in Medicaid caseloads and school enrollment.

"Our increased spending is very, very modest. We've all seen reports about a $14 billion surplus. It's not a surplus. It's new revenue. Of that new revenue, we've got about $12 billion in obligations," said Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who heads the Senate.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Laredo Democrat who is vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, noted that as lawmakers look at the $2.5 billion that's unallocated, "Let us always recognize that there are at least $4 billion in competing interests" for that money.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said lawmakers want to be sure they keep a promise to continue reducing school property tax rates from the current $1.33 per $100 valuation to $1.

The two-year spending plan -- divided between two bills -- not only would cover the immediate cost of the local tax cuts but would leave at least $3 billion unspent to ensure lawmakers can again pay for the local tax cuts in the following two years.

I realize that the Perry/Craddick/Dewhurst troika won't even consider this, but just for the record, we could easily fund all of those competing interests of which Sen. Zaffirini speaks if we scaled back those elephantine property tax cuts a bit. According to the CPPP (PDF), "each penny in additional local taxes would cost the state $150 million a year in equalization aid". That means that if we cut taxes to $1.10 instead of $1.50 - just for this biennium, mind you; we could still go whole hog next time if conditions allow - we could fund everything that needs funding. And hey, if we're smart enough to drop those unnecessary prison-building projects and couple it with some smart probation reform, we could maybe squeeze another nickel out of the property tax cuts. We've got more options than they want you to think, is all I'm saying.

Meanwhile, there's an even bigger priority for which the money actually exists, and that's CHIP. Nearly $400 million in state funds for CHIP were allocated but not spent because the onerous requirements for eligibility that were adopted in 2003's HB2292 have pared the rolls so drastically. House Democrats are going to make a big push to restore less rigid rules for CHIP. They had a big press conference today, for which a bunch of Dems (but, sadly, no Republicans showed up, to announce their intentions. Nearly every member of the caucus has filed or co-authored a bill to roll back some of the excessive CHIP restrictions. They'll still have to hurdle the GOP leadership to get this done, but at least they'll be heard in the process. And I want to highlight this link again, because it covers pretty much all of the things the Dems want to address.

Vince was the man on the spot for the press conference - see here, here, and here for his coverage. I love this bit from Rep. Borris Miles, as transcribed by Vince:

"In Harris County, we had the largest disenrollment of any county in Texas. I will be filing my bill...my legislation will take it one step further...to prevent us from repeating past mistakes, my bill will require the state calculate the interest lost on these funds...and create an outreach program designed to reach those parents of children eligible but not yet enrolled in CHIPs....Our Lieutenant Governor in his inaugural speech, said this was going to be the session of children. Let's put our money where our mouth is."

See what happens when you replace bad Democrats with good Democrats? Good things happen.

I've received a couple of press releases from various legislators on this, which are reprinted beneath the fold. I'm sure there will be much more on this soon. Stay tuned.

Press release from State Rep. Solomon Ortiz, Jr.

State Representative Solomon Ortiz Jr. today filed House Bill 710 to restore health coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for hundreds of thousands of children in Texas. In 2003, the Texas Legislature reduced state funding for CHIP and passed House Bill 2292, which created significant barriers to enrollment. Since the restrictive policies were enacted in 2003, almost two hundred thousand children have lost their health coverage.

"Providing health coverage for our children is the most important thing the legislature should do this session," Rep. Ortiz said. "My constituents sent me here to put our children and our families first. Over 3,400 children in Nueces County have lost CHIP coverage since 2003. My bill will repeal restrictive policies that have needlessly kicked thousands of children in our community off the CHIP program."

According to data collected from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), during the 2006 budget year, the State of Texas left unspent $400 million in state funds dedicated for CHIP and Children's Medicaid. Those dollars could easily cover every child that has lost CHIP coverage since 2003.

"It would take no more than a small fraction of our $14 billion surplus each year to restore CHIP for our children," Rep. Ortiz said. "We have the money -- there's no question about that. The only question is if we have the will to put our money where our mouth is and stand up for Texas children."

Rep. Ortiz joined dozens of other House members from across the state on Wednesday to advocate and raise awareness for the repeal of the restrictive CHIP policies. As of today, at least 61 house members have signaled their intention to fight for the restoration of CHIP.

"People in District 33 and across Texas are demanding common sense policies - like reducing paperwork, deducting child care costs when determining eligibility and not counting families' savings against them. These policies will ensure that more of our kids have health care," Rep. Ortiz said. "We need to restore CHIP now. The health of our children and the future of our state depend on it."

Rep. Ortiz encourages constituents to contact his office on this or any issue of interest at (512) 463-0578, email him at district33_ortiz@house.state.tx.us or visit the State of Texas House website at www.house.state.tx.us.

Press release from Rep. Veronica Gonzales:

State Representative Veronica Gonzales filed House Bill 701 to restore health coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for hundreds of thousands of children in Texas. In 2003, the Texas Legislature reduced state funding for CHIP and passed House Bill 2292, which significantly increased the difficulty for enrollment. Since the restrictive policies were enacted in 2003, almost two hundred thousand children have lost their health coverage.

"Providing health coverage for our children is one of my top priorities," Rep. Gonzales said. "I believe we must put our children and our families first. Lets remember CHIP is not free; it was created to help families who are helping themselves. My bill will move forward with positive change for our children's health coverage by repealing restrictive policies that have needlessly kicked children in our community off the CHIP program."

Restoring the CHIP program to the enrollment levels that existed before 2003 would not cost the state any money. According to data collected from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), during the 2006 budget year, the State of Texas left unspent $400 million in state funds dedicated for CHIP and Children's Medicaid. Those dollars could easily cover every child that has lost CHIP coverage since 2003.

"It would take no more than 1/100th of our $14 billion surplus each year to restore CHIP for our children," Rep. Gonzales said. "We have the money -- there's no question about that. The only question is if we have the will."

Rep. Gonzales joined dozens of other House members on Wednesday to advocate and raise awareness for the repealing of the restrictive CHIP policies.

"Common sense policies - like reducing paperwork, deducting child care costs when determining eligibility and not counting families' savings against them - will ensure that more of our kids have health care," Rep. Gonzales said. "We've heard it time again, Children are an asset to our state; a healthy child is a successful child."

Rep. Gonzales encourages constituents to contact her office on this or any issue of interest at (512) 463-0578, email her at Veronica.Gonzales@house.state.tx.us or visit the State of Texas House website at www.house.state.tx.us.

Press release from Rep. Garnet Coleman:

State Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and other House members filed legislation to restore health coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for hundreds of thousands of children in Texas.

"We must restore CHIP coverage for our children," Rep. Coleman said. "This is a no-brainer. The people of Texas have spoken, and it's time for us to act."

In 2003, the Texas Legislature reduced state funding for CHIP and passed House Bill 2292, which significantly increased the difficulty for enrollment. Since the restrictive policies were enacted in 2003, almost two hundred thousand children have lost their health coverage.

"The policies that were enacted by the 78th Legislature in September 2003 have -- by far -- had the greatest impact on CHIP disenrollment," Rep. Elliott Naishtat said.

Restoring the CHIP program to the enrollment levels that existed before 2003 would not cost the state any money. According to data collected from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), during the 2006 budget year, the State of Texas left unspent $400 million in state funds dedicated for CHIP and Children's Medicaid. Those dollars could easily cover every child that has lost CHIP coverage since 2003.

"I believe we must put our children and our families first, and my bill will move forward with positive change for CHIP," Rep. Veronica Gonzales said.

Rep. Coleman joined dozens of other House members on Wednesday to advocate and raise awareness for the repealing of the restrictive CHIP policies.

"Not restoring CHIP to its previous levels is fiscally irresponsible," Rep. Paula Pierson said.

"The average loss of CHIP coverage of the counties in my district is 62% -- that is a huge loss," Rep. Joe Heflin said.

"In Harris County, we saw a decrease in enrollment from 93,901 in 2003, to 66,696, a total loss of over 27,205," Rep. Borris Miles said. "This is unacceptable."

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 24, 2007 to Budget ballyhoo