Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights News About State Budgets
Summaries of recent news about state budgets in Nevada, New York, Virginia and Washington state appear below.
- Nevada: The state budget office on Friday warned state agencies to prepare for an additional 20% budget reduction in the upcoming two-year budget cycle, the Nevada Appeal reports. According to the memo from state Director of Administration Andrew Clinger, the plans are to give the administration an idea of the impact of budget reductions. The warning follows the Thursday announcement by the office that state agencies should prepare plans to reduce their budgets for the current fiscal year by up to 11% for a total of $358 million. The agency budgets already have been reduced by 14%, and if the additional cuts are ordered, the budget will be two-thirds the amount originally approved by the state Legislature and governor for the current fiscal year. In all, the reductions, if ordered, would reduce the state Health and Human Services Department budget by $705.8 million (Dornan, Nevada Appeal, 11/16).
- New York: Gov. David Paterson (D) and state lawmakers on Tuesday were unable to reach an agreement to cut $2 billion in spending during an emergency session of the state Legislature, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. They agreed to wait until Paterson releases his FY 2010 budget on Dec. 16 before considering any cuts during the current fiscal year. Lawmakers still have the option of coming back after that time and before 2009 to make cuts; however, Paterson suggested cuts might not occur until the new session begins, when Democrats are expected to take control of the state Senate. According to Paterson, at the beginning of 2009, the state will be faced with an estimated $15 billion budget gap and a $47 billion budget gap over the next four years. Paterson has proposed cutting $527 million from health care programs (Spector, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 11/18).
- Washington state: State lawmakers on Wednesday said that the newly projected $5 billion budget gap in the next two-year budget will have to force cuts and possible measures to increase revenue, the Seattle Times reports. The governor's budget office informed state agencies that they should prepare for deep budget cuts. State Department of Social and Health Services spokesperson Thomas Shapley said that the agency has been anticipating such a possibility, adding that there are three areas where the agency could make cuts: in provider payments, by reducing benefits and by limiting eligibility. The agency also is considering laying off employees (Garber, Seattle Times, 11/20).
