Brief Notes on the HRCC Conference Call
Just finished a conference call with the HRCC regarding their FY 2011 budget proposals. Lots of good news in here, mostly regarding the fact that the Senate version of the bill is structurally close to the House version. McDonnell’s “secret meetings” did their job, eh?
House Republicans were able to close the $2 billion gap in the budget in part by:
- Suspended one of the SOQs (planning period) saving $185 million
- Putney bill saved $270 million this year
- Net is a $50 million cut to revenue to the VRS, but substantial structural changes were made in biennium, $720 million in cuts
- Did not touch higher ed (already cut by 29% — 2006 funding levels)
The Senate did the car tax much like the House, but were a bit more generous with K-12.
Additional highlights:
- $3 billions in savings by reforming the VRS over the next 10 years; employees benefit in better times with raises (no raises over the last 4 years).
- Did not play with car tax relief.
- No state park closures.
- Specific cuts to educations are replaced with flexibility/block grants.
- No cut to personal care.
- Fewer cuts to PPA’s — taking advantage of leveraging.
- House budget did not ratchet down eligibility for FAMIS (Family Access to Medical Insurance).
House restored 80% of the loss from LCI — which is a sigh of relief for localities. House leadership also signaled that it was they — not McDonnell — who approached the Governor’s office about coming to terms with the budget. Governor McDonnell was providing direction and leadership… happens all the time (at least when it’s asked). Apparently, with the Senate budget coming into such close sync with the House budget, bringing the two budgets together will not be the once-Herculean task it was feared to be about a week ago. As for a timeline, everyone is looking towards a 13 March adjournment due to the car tax issue being resolved.
Things that conservatives should be looking for: the budget is balanced without a tax hike or the Kaine fees, there are structural change that will pay dividends down the road, rebuilding the rainy day fund, still some pork spending in the budget still, but the majority of the problems with the Governor’s (Kaine) Budget have been resolved.
As for 2011… we have addressed all those issues in the House budget, and the “cliff effect” for 2012 is largely resolved in the House budget. With the Senate budget and the Governor’s budget, we’ve smoothed out those problems for FY 2012, with $550 million saved in VRS adjustments/reforms in 2012.
On jobs and the economy — about 10 to 12 bills came through Appropriations, and $50 million was set aside for economic development, which will enable the Governor to reach out to businesses to either relocate or find new ways to expand within the Commonwealth.
(crossposted at SK.com)
Category: Government
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Maybe we can retire the word “draconian” for a while….
Translation for the rest of us: school divisions won’t be required to meet one of the SOL’s so the Commonwealth will be justified in cutting their contribution. Of course, why was this SOL required this year but not next?; education will be cut just as much, but each division will be allowed to apply for a grant which won’t be funded because the funds are not there; by not funding VSRS as required, the unfunded liability will increase, but we will worry about that later; no cuts to personal care, but for those who take care of people, the cuts will be severe. Jibberish replaces responsibility.
Mike, the House could have come out with Jesus on water. And you would oppose it.
In fact, when Jesus did walk on water, Mike complained that it only meant he couldn’t swim.
Yes, for those fow whom the Grover Norquist no tax pledge has replaced religion, this retrenchment is no big deal, and of course, when next year’s tax receipts improve, and we are in surplus, the play book will call for more tax cuts since we have a surplus. And so it goes, which is exactly what the House has done to transportation. That is, essentially undermine this critical function, which makes the proposed economic development program all the more ridiculous. I guess when you have a fourth rate transportation system and a soon to be third rate education system, you have to pay incentives to companies to locate here. Is there a moderate, business oriented republican who understands investment left?
The two budgets are close enough that there won’t be a war over them.
I’m not crazy about the bookkeeping trick of delaying the VRS payements, but I don’t think it could be helped.
Some parts of the House budget are better, notably the elimination of the furlough days for state employees.
I prefer the Senate’s emphasis on putting more of the K-12 cuts back rather than the House’s option of restoring more of the cuts to constitutional officers.
Fourth rate transportation system?
…and all this time, I thought Dems were telling us we had a 1st rate system that needed our utmost support!
Guess Virginia really has everyone fooled with that “best place to do business in America” ranking, especially with that fourth rate transportation network we have working for us.
Well Shaun, yes. Closed rest stops, so much deferred maintenance that the civil engineers gave us a D-, abandoned bridges, no money for urban construction, grass so high you can’t see the signs, more cancelled projects than funded ones, pot holes so wide and deep that most spend $1,000 in car repair and lost productivity, six mile back ups at choke points in Hampton Roads under normal conditions, tunnels that leak and are potentially dangerous, and a Legislature that has simply ignored this system and has no plans to do anything about it. Yes, fourth rate. What’s your scale? MJB sends!
Wow, I didn’t realize what damage Tim Kaine did to Virginia until Mike Barrett explained how horrible things are.
I just hope Gov. McDonnell is able to fix the Kaine disaster before its too late. :p
Yeah, that’s why we should all buy an off road 4 wheel drive from Freedom Ford tricked up with monster wheels to get through those $1,000 pot holes and float through the flooded tunnels.
The McDonnell agenda is starting to shape up as the “Kaine Mutiny”.
Britt, as of course you know, the locus of the destruction of our once efficient transportation system is the House of Delegates. They have stubbornly and proudly refused to increase transportation related taxes and fees, and the result is conditions worse than found in many third world countries. Our roads and bridges are increasingly unsafe, and the Virginia chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave them a grade of D-, prompting Speaker Howell to demand a course of action to earn an F. Simply deplorable, and I challenge any thinking republican to explain how this helps us to be a competitor for economic development. No, there is no explanation, and it is increasingly a disqualifer.