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LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER II January 18-23/2009
The second week of the 60th Idaho Legislature has come to a close.
The Revenue Projection committee's estimate of future state revenues came in about $105 million lower than that of the Governor's projections. I thought the Governor's projections were reasonable. If the Committee's projections are accepted by JFAC this will mean deeper budget cuts than already laid out in the Governor's budget.
1. Are there any extra pockets of money out there? In tough economic times everyone is looking for that extra dollar.
I work out daily at the YMCA and had the chance to talk to an employee of the Idaho State Tax Commission. This individual reported to me that due to the cutbacks that a number of part time tax auditors were released. These auditors go after out of state businesses that are not headquartered in Idaho but do business here. Often these businesses have not paid Idaho taxes. This past year the part time auditors brought in $7 million and their salaries and benefits were one million dollars or a positive gain of $6 million for the state treasury. So why did we get rid of personnel who are recovering a positive cash flow for the state? Good question. Idaho also loses about $3 million/year in federal highway funds because we do not require motorcyclists to wear helmets -- Pride before dollars it would seem. In just those two cases there could be about $10 million that could help fund education and other important programs.
2. Obama Infrastructure Bailout Plan
-- First of all it is my understanding that our Congressional Delegation will be voting against the Bailout Plan; however, it is evident if the legislation passes that Idaho will have almost $4 billion in "shovel ready" to go projects that will be submitted for consideration. Idaho counties and cities have almost $2 billion ready in requests, and Governor Otter has many state requests with the emphasis on transportation needs. Shovel ready projects are those that would be ready to start within a 9 month period. These projects would obviously create additional jobs which are badly needed to stimulate the economy. In reality if Idaho receives $200-$300 million in these bailout funds we will probably be lucky. My guess is that much of those funds will go toward highway projects.
3. Community Action Programs
-- I serve on the CAP Region II Board headquartered in Lewiston. Community Action Programs serve various needs of low income citizens, i.e. food banks, weatherization programs, energy assistance, etc. The demand for food from the food banks has almost doubled this year and donations are down. CAP helps low income citizens weatherize about 400 homes a year in the region, and this may double this year. We understand that under the Obama bailout plan that funds would be provided to winterize about 1,000,000 homes a year in the U.S. This would just about increase the number of homes to be winterized in Region II to 2,000/year.
Avista is providing about $300,000 a year in Energy and weatherization assistance in N. Idaho.
Legislation will be introduced which would allow Idaho Power to participate in the same type of program. There would be no mandate here, but simply legislation which would update the statutes to allow Idaho Power to voluntarily participate in this type of program.
4.
Medicaid Cuts -- I've received many calls from families with concerns over Medicaid cuts. These are in the area of mental health and individuals with disabilities. One example is the grandmother near Potlatch who grandson is autistic and the amount of therapy reduced from 30 to 22 hours/ week. These cuts may help the budget balancing, but may be costly in the long term. A number of experts indicate that reducing the amount of therapy may actually cost the state more in the long run. For example, if the mental health treatment for an adult is reduced it may be insufficient to stabilize his/her condition. These individuals may end up in hospitals or even in some cases jail which would cost the state more in the long run. I'm opposed to these types of cuts.
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