[Nfbmo] FW: [Modisabilaw] House Budget Chair Releases Budget Plan

[Shelia Wright]

  _____  

From: modisabilaw-bounces at lists.mo.gov
[mailto:modisabilaw-bounces at lists.mo.gov] On Behalf Of Marty Exline
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 7:05 AM
To: MO Disability Policy/Law Listserv
Subject: [Modisabilaw] House Budget Chair Releases Budget Plan

 

The House Budget Committee Chair Ryan Silvey will distribute a proposed
FY2013 plan today that includes the House Appropriations Committee proposal
to cut $28 million by eliminating Medicaid coverage for persons who receive
Blind Pension.  Rep. Silvey presented his plan to the Associated Press
yesterday evening (below).  We'll provide more information as it becomes
available.

 

Mo. House plan would fund higher ed, cut blind aid 

By DAVID A. LIEB 
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The top budget writer in the Missouri House is
proposing to reverse Gov. Jay Nixon's cuts to public colleges and
universities - in part, by eliminating a state program that provides aid to
the blind.

The new plan by House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey also would
eliminate smaller sums of money Nixon had proposed for K-12 schools, the
judiciary and an incentive program for science-and-technology based
businesses. And it would modify Nixon's proposed pay raise for state
employees - providing the money sooner, but only to people earning less than
$70,000.

Silvey, R-Kansas City, outlined his budget plan Wednesday to The Associated
Press in advance of distributing copies to fellow lawmakers, who are likely
to see it on their desks by Thursday. Silvey also sent a letter to college
and university presidents Wednesday, informing them of his plan and urging
them to support it.

"We are going to value higher education - we are going to make it a priority
- and we're going to balance the budget," Silvey said in an interview.

In January, the Democratic governor proposed a nearly $23 billion operating
budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 that included a recommended
cut of $106 million - or 12.5 percent - to public colleges and universities.
In February, Nixon proposed to soften that by redirecting an anticipated $40
million from a national settlement with mortgage lenders to go to higher
education institutions.

Silvey's plan would wipe out the rest of Nixon's proposed cut to higher
education, providing institutions the same amount they are getting this
year.

To do that, Silvey embraced a $28 million elimination of state aid to the
blind that had been recommended by a House appropriations committee. The
Supplemental Aid to the Blind program funds medical care for more than 2,800
people who earn too much too qualify for the Medicaid health care program
for the poor but do already receive payments from a state blind pension
fund.

Silvey said that in a tight budget the state could no longer afford to
provide the blind medical aid that people who are deaf or paralyzed do not
receive.

"It is completely inconsistent with how we treat any other disability in the
state," Silvey said. "All we are doing is going to do is put them on a level
playing field with anyone else with a disability."

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste declined to comment Wednesday about Silvey's
new budget plan. Earlier this month, Nixon said he opposed efforts to cut
aid to the blind to balance the budget, adding: "It's just plain wrong."

State Rep. Sara Lampe, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee,
said Wednesday that cutting aid to the blind is a "big worry." But she
added: "I am thrilled we are looking for money for higher education," and
Lampe said she was open to considering a cut to the blind program to finance
education.

"I believe with the money we have, we're going to have to make some really
tough, tough decisions," said

 

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