For the week ending Friday, May 25, 2001
The momentum toward adjournment picked up this week, as the Senate completed work on its version of the FY02 State Appropriations Bill. The bill is now subject to negotiations between the House and Senate members of the Committee of Conference, which will resolve the differences between the two versions of the budget. Once that is accomplished, the General Assembly will be able to adjourn for the year. The conference committee began meeting late last week and continued deliberations on Saturday. They will resume work at 2:30 on Tuesday.The Senate Committee on Finance spent a considerable amount of time last week debating a proposed increase in the state cigarette tax to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates for health care providers as well as to fund a catastrophic pharmaceutical program. Talks broke down last Friday due to the reluctance on the part of several committee members to raise the tobacco tax to fund new programs. Even the Governor, who initially supported a 67-cent tax increase, has publicly stated that he would forego raising the tax this year at this time. Sen. Cheryl Rivers (D-Windsor), chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, stated clearly on Tuesday that people shouldn’t always believe what they read in the papers. That committee will be meeting Tuesday afternoon on H.31, the pharmaceutical bill that is the likely vehicle for raising the tobacco tax.
Meanwhile, in the Conference Committee on the Appropriations bill, the conferees have put aside the Medicaid cost shift issue until the tobacco tax increase issue has been settled. The House conferees have steadfastly insisted that the budget needs to include an appropriation for reducing the cost shift. Since the conferees have agreed upon a total budget of $877 million the Senate has said any cost shift increase needs to be in addition to that number, from cuts from the House priorities, or from the tobacco tax increase.
It is clear that leaders in both the House and Senate are eager to complete their work and return home for the year, and are pushing for an adjournment as early in June as possible, with some leaders pushing for a Thursday evening adjournment to beat the "June" label. However, the chances of that happening decrease as each day goes by without resolution on some of the key issues like the tobacco tax, Act 60 and the Medicaid cost shift.
The Budget – What’s In and What’s Out
Below is a summary of what is in the two different versions of the budget. The two versions are finalized and after nearly a week of Conference Committee meeting, only one item, nursing home reimbursement, has been finalized.
House Senate
Medicaid Reimbursement $4.1 million 0
No cigarette tax has been passed in either body on any bill.Cost Shift Language Eliminates Cost Shift No language
Sec. 123a (h) by 2006Nurse Loan Forgiveness $200,000 $200,000
In Vermont
RN and LPNCenter for Nursing $125,000 $100,000
Nursing Homes The Conference Committee has agreed to accept the compromise language on rate setting for nursing homes that the industry and the regulators agreed to in the Senate version of the budget. This also means that the bed tax rate is at its maximum level and there is no Boren amendment.