My feelings can't describe it
Finally it has happened to me right in front of my face and
I just can not hide it
~CeCe Peniston, "Finally"
It's budget week at the General Assembly. The House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees introduced their respective versions of the 2018-2019 Biennial Budget yesterday afternoon.
Finally, after years of Democratic lawmaker's advocating for it, the House Budget includes Medicaid Expansion.
Amendments to House Bill 29 increase health care coverage to uninsured Virginians with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) effective January 1, 2019, with 300,000 individuals projected to enroll.
As part of the deal to expand Medicaid, the plan incorporates innovative reforms to promote health and well-being, personal responsibility and fiscal sustainability.
Within 45 days after passage HB 29, Virginia will submit State Plan Amendment application & file initial paperwork for the section 1115 demonstration waiver. HB 29 provides $3.5 million General Fund (GF) and federal Medicaid matching funds to hire an expert with successful experience with similar waivers to assist with the design and federal approval process.
House Bill 30 provides $4.6 million GF in FY 2019 and $16.9 million GF in FY 2020 to support the Training, Education, Employment and Opportunity Program (TEEOP) for Medicaid enrollees.
My colleagues and I will be reviewing the entire proposed budget this week. On Thursday, we will vote on the House Amendments to the Governor's budget and any submitted floor amendments. The decision to expand Medicaid has freed up hundreds of millions of state general fund dollars for mental health, education, economic development and other important priorities.
2018-2020 Biennial Budget | House Version
Mental Health
- Total spending of $163.1 million from the General Fund over the biennium for behavioral health and developmental services including the following major items:
- $47.8 million for 825 I/DD waiver slots and 50 reserve slots
- $59.7 million for community mental health services
- $15.8 million for behavioral health facility capacity and operating costs
- $15.3 million for Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation capacity and facility expansion and services
- $36.1 million in savings for Community Service Board funding due to Medicaid transformation
K-12 Education
The Introduced Budget has a net increase of $515.9 million GF higher than the FY 2018 base budget – which includes rebenchmarking, policy changes, new and expanded initiatives
- $481.1 million for the total cost of Rebenchmarking
- $34.8 million for new policy changes, new/expanded initiatives
- To that, the Subcommittee recommends increasing the K12 budget by an additional $98.0 million over the biennium as compared to the introduced bill
- Increases the Supplemental Lottery Per Pupil Amount (PPA) by $43.4 million the first year and $48.1 million the second year
- The revised Supplemental Lottery PPA allocation totals $234.7 million the first year and $239.4 million the second year
- The per pupil amount increased from $274 each year to $336 the first year and to $342 the second year
- The recommended additional funding increases the total percentage of Lottery dollars going directly the school divisions to 40% in the second year
- School divisions have 100% flexibility on spending
Higher Education
- Finally got funding for an office of Student Loan Ombudsman, which I've been working on with Senator Howell for a few years
- Commonwealth Cyber (CyberX) Initiative $40.0 million
- $40.0 million under VRIC for a new cyber initiative
- Engine for research, innovation, and commercialization cybersecurity technologies
- Address statewide shortage of advanced and professional degrees within the cyber workforce
- Hub and Spoke structure with the Hub located in Northern Virginia with Virginia Tech as anchor, along with participating universities and industry partners spokes co-located with, and operated by, other public universities throughout the Commonwealth
- Opportunity to participate in collaborative programs and access to investment resources via VRIC
I-66
- Re-evalution of the inside the beltway tolling algorithm
- Establishing of reverse commuter tolling inside the beltway (which I don't support and will oppose on the House floor)
You can view online the full biennial budget and all the budget amendments.