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| SPONSOR: | Cravens | DATE TYPED: | 03/12/01 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Nonreversion of Medicaid Appropriations | SB | 811 | ||||
| ANALYST: | Taylor | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY01 | FY02 | FY01 | FY02 | ||
| NFI | |||||
Duplicates HB 868
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Human Services Department (HSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 811 would make appropriations to the Human Services Department for Medicaid payments non-reverting. The non-reverted funds would be used for appropriations in the next year.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
There is no immediate fiscal impact as the Medicaid program will be needing supplemental appropriations for FY01, FY00 and prior years.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The department writes that the bill would allow it to process payments for bills incurred in prior year budgets without having to wait for deficiency appropriations. However, the bill states that the balances are to be used for payments in future years. Also, the general appropriations acts working through the legislature contain money in the appropriations contingency fund to cover Medicaid budget shortfalls.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Allowing agencies to retain cash balances reduces budget process transparency. Budget analysts will have to guess at how large balances will be and recommend appropriating budget need net of estimated balances. Agencies have an incentive to understate estimated balances.
BT/ar