Our state budget says a great deal about our priorities. We devote 46 cents of every dollar to the education of our students and now we are considering another substantial increase. This week, the Joint Budget Committee began its Pre-Fiscal Budget Hearings. The Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) started the hearings by presenting the Revenue Forecast for the next year and the Governor’s proposed balanced budget. The new budget forecast predicts a 2% growth in revenue. There is currently a $126 million surplus from 2013. The Governor’s proposal for 2015 would increase state spending by $105 million. Included in that proposed increase is $65.4 million to the Public School Fund. Under that proposal per student funding increases from $6,393 to $6,521 for the upcoming school year. The Governor’s proposed budget also includes a significant increase designed to address prison overcrowding. An additional $7 million would be devoted for county-jail reimbursements and an additional $3 million would go to the Department of Correction to add 300 more prison beds. DFA told the Joint Budget Committee that the foundation of the current budget is dependent on the $89 million saved this year as a direct result of the implementation of the Health Care Independence Act commonly referred to as the Private Option. In the most recent legislative session, the General Assembly authorized the use of federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance plans for Arkansans making below 138% of the federal poverty level. The decision to appropriate the Private Option for the upcoming Fiscal Year will be addressed in the upcoming Fiscal Session. The committee is expected to hear more testimony from the Department of Human Services on the impact of the Private Option in coming days. This week also opened what we call our pre-filing period for the Fiscal Session. This means members can begin filing appropriation bills and resolutions. As a reminder, we begin our Fiscal Session on February 10. So in the coming weeks we will continue to update you on the budget process. We have posted the General Revenue Forecast and the Governor’s proposed balanced budget on our website arkansashouse.org.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 22:22:31 +0000
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