DRO Legislative Update: April 1, 2011

CO-CHAIRS BUDGET RELEASED

On Tuesday, the Co-Chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee today released a proposed $14.65 billion budget for the 2011-13 biennium.  This proposal is the second major step in the budget-making process, following the earlier Governor’s Recommended Budget.  Compared to the Governor’s proposal, the co-chairs budget calls increased funding for K-12 education and decreased funding for human services.  It provides $5.7 billion for education, $3.729 billion for human services, $2.41 billion for public safety and the courts, $286.5 million for transportation and economic development, $304.5 million for natural resources and $264 million for general government.

The budget proposal leaves $19.3 million in the emergency fund, which can be accessed by the Legislative Emergency Board when the full Legislature is not in session. It leaves an ending fund balance of $460 million, with up to $310 million available for appropriation during the February 2012 session.  The proposal does not recommend specific allocations of funds within major budget categories.  That will be left to subcommittees of the Joint Ways and Means Committee.  The entire budget may be adjusted after the May revenue forecast.

The budget proposal specifically endorses efforts to transform the Medicaid health care delivery system and is relying up success in these efforts to balance the human services budget.  It also sites these major concerns and assumptions:

“We are particularly concerned about the Governor’s recommended budget for Seniors and People with Disabilities. We will focus and direct our Subcommittee on Human Services to focus on resolving issues within this budget.”

“This budget is intended to allow the Governor and his agency leaders, as well as the Legislature in the 2012 session, time to address the issue of changing how the state delivers services. Maintaining critical services will require common sacrifice. Our budget proposal assumes a freeze or reduction of the salaries and benefits of the Governor and all statewide elected officials, as well as on the Legislature and all agency management. It assumes concessions from state workers on salary, health care, and pension costs. Further, it anticipates that reimbursement rates for services performed by other public and private entities will be reduced.”

“[We] need to address Governor’s recommended budget holes such as the failure to include debt service roll-ups for the Oregon State Hospital, assumed savings in the community mental health system that either did not exist or that assumed the continuation of budget cuts that had not been made, the failure to provide funding for operating costs of the Behavioral Health Integration Project necessary to provide an electronic health record and hospital management system for the Oregon State Hospital, and the assumption of fee increases or fee establishment to replace General Fund in the drinking water program, emergency medical services program, and the Long Term Care Ombudsman office.  Review specific areas of concern including proposed cuts in provider rates and assumed savings from long-run system transformation in the Seniors and People with Disabilities budget.”

PUBLIC GUARDIAN & CONSERVATOR TASK FORCE

On Wednesday, the House Human Services Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 2237. This bill will permit the Public Guardian and Conservator Task Force to continue its work.

Rep. Michael Dembrow, who testified in support, recalled his experiencing serving on the task force. The group has worked for two years, at no cost to the government, to study the need for public guardianship and conservatorship services.

"These are people who have been deemed by the courts to be incapable of making decisions for themselves because of perhaps age-related dementia, or mental health issues, addictions issues," said Rep. Dembrow. "And they don't have the means either personally or through family to have a guardian appointed to take care of them. The public has a responsibility to do that. The administration of such programs in the state is left up to the counties, but really Multnomah County is the only county that has a program."

Claudia Burton, a Marion County Circuit Court judge, testified that: "We see many, many heartbreaking cases where Senior Services go in and we have an elder or disabled person being abused or neglected or self-neglecting and they are found in just horrifying conditions."  In Marion County, they "scramble" to serve this population. They have some attorneys and some professional guardians that take on cases, and they've cobbled together a local program with community organizations, but, Burton pointed out, the need is substantially greater than they can serve.

To track this bill, click here: http://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2011/HB2237/

To listen to the audio from the hearing, click here and select 3/30/2011: http://www.leg.state.or.us/cgi-bin/list_archives.cgi?archive.2011s&HHS&Human+Services

UP NEXT WEEK

Remember, you can listen in ONLINE LIVE to committee hearings happening in Salem. Click here for a list of Committee Webpages. Select the correct committee and listen in live, or click the Archives to listen afterward.

• Monday, April 4 - SB 579: Allows hospital to appoint patient advocate to make health care decisions on behalf of patient incapable of making health care decisions. Senate Committee on Health Care, Human Services, & Rural Health Policy, Hearing Room A - 3:00 PM
• Monday, April 4 - HB 3515: Requires certain health care providers to complete continuing education about traumatic brain injury. House Committee on Health Care, Hearing Room D - 3:00 PM
• Monday, April 4 - HB 2600:  Puts the Staley Brokerage system into state statute.  House Committee on Human Services, Hearing Room D – 8:00 AM
• Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - HB 2939:  Prohibits use of mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, or prone restraint on student in public education program. House Committee on Education, Hearing Room E, 1:00 PM