Medicaid the biggie

Schools, abortion also on legislators’ lists

— The 89th General Assembly convenes Monday at noon to tackle, among other things, a projected Medicaid funding shortfall, a proposed Medicaid expansion and possible tax cuts.

Lawmakers also will consider cutting the size of lottery-financed scholarships, adding restrictions on abortion, requiring voters to provide a photo identification to vote and stripping approval authority for charter schools from the state Board of Education.

For the first time in 138 years, Republicans rather than Democrats will control the Arkansas House of Representatives and Arkansas Senate.

“We need to make some bold reforms” on education, ethics, insurance and tort laws, Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot said.

But he added, “I’m not sure what they are going to look like.”

The 35-member Senate will have 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats after senators are sworn in on Monday.

“It is going to be a challenge for any side to have a very aggressive agenda,” said incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville.

The 100-member House will have 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats with one Green Party member.

“If we can get through the budgeting process and make the right decision on Medicaid, and keep everybody out of the ditches, I will be pretty happy,” House Speaker-designee Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said. “I don’t know that we have to come in here and have big sweeping shifts in public policy every two years.”

Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat who has been the state’s chief executive since 2007, is entering his last regular session as governor.

Beebe said he believes he can work constructively with most Republican lawmakers, particularly Lamoureux and Carter.

“Both leaders are reasonable folks; they’ve surrounded themselves with reasonable people. I have good working relationships with them and with the overwhelming majority of the House and the Senate,” Beebe said. “I think we’ll still continue to have the same kind of cooperative working relationship that has been evident since I’ve been governor.”

Lawmakers will spend much of their time dealing with a projected $298 million Medicaid shortfall. A proposal to expand Medicaid by adding 250,000 Arkansans to its rolls will also dominate the session.

“Medicaid is certainly the biggest elephant in the room,” Carter said. “That issue is going to drive almost every other monetary issue.”

Expanding the Medicaid program, as allowed under the federal health-care law signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, would require 27 votes in the Senate and 75 votes in the House.

And many Republican lawmakers, particularly in the House, campaigned against the proposed expansion during their election races last year.

Carter said he doesn’t know whether the proposed expansion is effectively dead.

“I think it is going to be extremely difficult to expand Medicaid with the all-ornothing options that are out there,” he said, referring to the federal government’s current requirement that states either completely expand the program as allowed under the federal health-care law — titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — or not at all.

“Now, [Lamoureux] has championed this idea of trying to come up with some middle ground that could be tailored to Arkansas,” Carter said. “I am less optimistic that that’s an option. I don’t want to paint some false hopes out there that we are going to come up with some compromise plan and then we are going up to [Washington] D.C. and [federal officials will say] ‘Yeah, OK you guys can do that.”

House Democratic leader Greg Leding of Fayetteville said there’s “a small chance” the Legislature will authorize an expansion of the Medicaid program, adding there’s a lot of animosity and misinformation among certain lawmakers about the Affordable Care Act.

Medicaid is expected to dominate state budget discussions as well.

The state’s general revenue budget is $4.727 billion in fiscal 2013, which ends June 30, and Beebe has proposed a budget of $4.947 billion in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1, including $10 million in rainy-day funds, according to state budget administrator Brandon Sharp.

Medicaid’s general revenue shortfall is projected to be $298 million in fiscal 2014. Medicaid is a $5 billion state and federally funded healthcare program serving about 780,000 Arkansans.

Even if the Legislature follows the governor’s existing recommendation to bolster the program by $90 million in general revenue and $70 million in surplus funds in fiscal 2014, $139 million would still have to be cut from the state Department of Human Services’ budget, according to department officials.

Carter and Lamoureux suggested last week that the state use increased state tax revenue and additional surplus funds to forestall the proposed Medicaid cuts.

Beebe said he’s willing to listen to their ideas but pointed out that his proposed budget would provide $160 million in increased funding to the program in fiscal 2014.

“You have to balance the budget,” Beebe said. “There will be some cuts.”

Arkansas law requires the state to have a balanced budget.

Cuts proposed by the Department of Human Services include eliminating adult dental care and a healthinsurance program for the working poor.

Lawmakers and Beebe have objected to the recommended elimination of level 3 nursing care, which is care for people who are totally dependent on another person for mobility, feeding or using the toilet, or people who need limited assistance in two of the categories.

State Medicaid Director Andy Allison has said 10,000 to 15,000 senior citizens and disabled people would no longer have nursing care if the cuts occur.

Carter and Lamoureux said last week that they don’t expect any cuts in the Medicaid program.

With state revenue increasing, there’ll be more money for lawmakers to spend. But allocating even more general revenue for Medicaid than Beebe has proposed could mean cutting Beebe’s proposed budget for other state programs for fiscal 2014.

For fiscal 2014, Beebe’s budget also includes a $49 million increase in the publicschool fund to $2.048 billion, a $14.8 million increase to $313.6 million for the state Department of Correction, and a $10 million increase to $739.5 million for the state’s higher education institutions.

The governor also has proposed a plan to cut the state’s 1.5 percent sales tax on groceries. It hinges on paying off bond obligations that won’t end for years or the end of a decades-old lawsuit that requires the state to pay millions of dollars for desegregation efforts.

Some lawmakers are looking at ways to cut taxes, including a cut in the state’s sales tax on energy used by manufacturers and reducing the state’s income taxes.

Among other things, the Legislature will consider proposals in the following areas:

ABORTION: Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, said he plans to propose legislation again to require abortion providers to check whether the fetus has a heartbeat and to inform the woman if it does before proceeding.

Rep. Andy Mayberry, RHensley, said he again plans to introduce legislation to prohibit abortions beyond the time fetuses are thought to feel pain.

ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIPS: A legislative committee has recommended cutting the amounts of the lottery-funded scholarships to $3,300 a year at the state’s four-year universities and $1,650 a year at two-year colleges for future first-time recipients.

Currently, students who were first awarded the scholarships in the 2010-2011 school year receive $5,000 a year to attend universities and $2,500 a year for colleges. Those first awarded the scholarships in the 2011-2012 or 2012-2013 school years get $4,500 a year at universities and $2,250 at colleges.

CHARTER SCHOOLS:

Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, said he plans to propose legislation to shift authority for approving charter schools from the state Board of Education to another panel.

The panel would include members appointed — one each — by the House speaker, Senate president pro tempore, the House Education Committee chairman, the Senate Education Committee chairman and the governor.

The governor currently appoints the members of the state Board of Education.

SALARIES FOR LAWMAKERS AND CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS:

Sen.-elect and Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, said he’s drafting a proposed constitutional amendment to allow a citizens panel rather than the Legislature to review and determine salaries for state lawmakers and the state’s constitutional officers. The Legislature is limited to raising these salaries by the cost of living under the Arkansas Constitution. Woods said he would like to see constitutional officers’ salaries bumped up.

STATE MINIMUM WAGE: State Rep. Butch Wilkins, D-Bono, said he plans to propose legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage from $6.25 to $8.25 an hour.

TORT LAW OVERHAUL: Williams said he’s drafting a proposed constitutional amendment to respond to the state Supreme Court’s rulings in recent years that overturned certain provisions of a tort law overhaul that the Legislature enacted in 2003.

VOTER ID: State Sen.-elect and Rep. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, has filed a bill and a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to show identification to vote. Now, poll workers ask for identifying documents, but voters are not required to show them.

SCHOOL EVALUATION: Beebe said he is interested in simplifying the evaluation and accountability system for public schools.

“It’s something that needs to be done. It’s complex now, a lot of folks don’t understand it, a lot of folks don’t even know it exists,” Beebe said.

Beebe said he may be interested in some other education-related legislation this year, “but I’m not ready to talk about them all yet.”

SCHOOL CHOICE:

Beebe said legislators may need to address the ramifications of a recent federal court decision that threw out the Arkansas School Choice Act. As a starting point for discussions, state Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said he plans to introduce a bill to eliminate limitations in the public school choice except those for districts under desegregation orders.

SALARIES FOR TRIAL COURT ASSISTANTS AND COURT REPORTERS: Chief Justice Jim Hannah said the Arkansas Judicial Council is asking lawmakers to fund the salaries of court reporters and trial court assistants through state general revenue. Hannah said fee collections through the courts, which are used to pay the employees, have dwindled and are no longer dependable.

RETIRING JUDGES:

The judicial council is also seeking approval of a bill to allow judges over the age of 70 to win re-election without forfeiting their retirement benefits. Arkansas Code Annotated 28-8-215 states that judges or justices who choose not to retire by age 70 lose their retirement benefits unless they are completing an elected term.

TEACHER RETIREMENT SYSTEM: System officials says its trustees should be given the option to raise the amount it charges school districts and others from 14 percent to 15 percent. It wants the state to pay for the increase, projected to cost $28 million.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/13/2013

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