Key Coalition Legislative Report
Week 12
David Parish & Associates, LLC
DHSS budget:
The Senate this week is in the process of finalizing the operating budget, which includes Senator Peter Micciche’s subcommittee action to add $1.4 million back into the DHSS budget for day habilitation will be supported at the full Committee. This change would allow a soft cap increase from 8 to 12 hours on average, as the House previously approved the Governor’s recommendation to reduce funding down to 8 hours, this issue will be resolved in House/Senate budget conference committee in coming weeks and we need to continue an all out effort to let House members know they need to support the Senate proposal for Day-Hab in the operating budget during the conference committee process.
SB 80/HB 202 Telephone services for disabled subscribers:
SB 80 was heard and held in the Senate Labor & Commerce this week. The bill by Sen. Costelloto require telecommunications providers to offer services for disabled subscribers under the same section of the law that relates to services for hearing and speech-impaired subscribers. The House companion bill, HB 202, was introduced by Rep’s Sullivan-Leonard and Millett.
SB 10 Relating to waivers and foster care for severely disabled individuals:
Sen. Dunleavy will be working over the interim on improving SB 10, his bill related to transition of severely disabled individuals from foster care to adult foster care homes.
Political Overview:
With just over a week left in the 90 day legislative session, overtime is now almost inevitable. A key factor is the ongoing struggle by House majority coalition leaders to gain the votes within their democratically-led coalition for the key elements to a “fiscal plan,” something they have said all session long was their core reason for seizing power in the first place. Despite that public pronouncement at the beginning of the session, as we enter the final days those same House leaders are making restructuring of Permanent Fund earnings to generate revenue to cover the state’s ongoing budget shortfall contingent on passage of an unpopular personal income tax and increasing taxes on the oil and gas industry, two measures they don’t appear to have the votes for within their own caucus at this point.
Senate leaders went public with their frustration over the House’s inaction this week, and raised the stakes by putting major education funding/restructuring/cuts on the table for the third year in a row in the final two weeks of the session. The proposed cuts, regardless of how they are packaged and structured, are unpopular with the public and key Senators acknowledge privately that the proposals are primarily a negotiating/pressuring tool as they try to deal with the House.
Governor Walker meantime put up his own white flag this week saying “my focus is what we get done, not when we get done.” All of this points to what could be lengthy extensions of the session beyond the April 16 90th day. During these extra innings, leaders on both sides say that most non-budget issues will be set aside as has been done the past two years, especially since this is the first year of the two year Legislature and everything that doesn’t pass this session automatically carries over into the 2018 session with its same committee status.
As we head into the final week and the Legislature will work through next weekend, my regular Friday weekly report for next week will be deferred until Monday morning April 17.