Spending proposal for health agency clears state panel
The Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee on Thursday approved a spending plan for the state Department of Health after attempts by House members to trim appropriations for tobacco-cessation programs, operating expenses and the state trauma system.
Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, one of the legislators who proposed the reductions, said he wants the appropriations to more closely match what the department actually plans to spend.
Appropriations grant an agency the authority to spend money and usually exceed expected funding, giving the agency the flexibility to spend more money if it becomes available, such as through a federal grant.
But setting the appropriated amount too high gives
an agency too much authority to spend money without lawmakers’ approval, Dotson argued.
“If they had several million dollars’ worth of additional funds come in some way through an unexpected source, they don’t have to come back to the Legislature to ask for permission before they can spend it however they want,” he said.
Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, countered that Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 gives the Health Department flexibility to respond to unexpected events.
“I do think that the governor recognizes that we are in the midst of health changes,” Chesterfield said. “We’ve got a viral flu that’s going on. We’ve got so many things that come, and then we put a cap on our ability to respond to it in a positive way should something happen because we’re choosing to cap our appropriation.”
The cuts would have reduced the department’s total appropriation of $406 million for fiscal 2019 by about $24 million, bringing it closer to the $363 million that Hutchinson’s budget projects the agency will receive in funding from the state and other sources.
Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, proposed a $3.6 million reduction in the department’s $14.3 million appropriation for tobacco-cessation programs.
Dotson also proposed reducing the department’s $82.3 million appropriation for general operating expenses by about $3 million, and its $32.5 million appropriation for professional fees by more than $15 million.
And, he proposed reducing the trauma system appropriation by about $2 million, to just under $24 million. He said the cuts would still give the department leeway to increase its spending in those areas by about 10 percent compared with what it’s spent in previous years.
“We are saying no, if you get some extra money, you don’t get to spend it on what you want to,” Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, said in support of the cuts. “We will decide as a body where that money needs to be spent.”
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said the governor’s spending plan was based on decisions made by the Legislature during the regular session last year. The purpose of the fiscal session, she said, is to review the plan and make any necessary changes, not “to come in here and, by minute issue by minute issue, redo the budget.”
Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma, said she was concerned about how the cuts would affect the trauma system, county health offices — which she said are already understaffed — and initiatives such as Stop the Bleed, a campaign aimed at training the public to help people suffering from extensive blood loss.
“If you would talk to your providers on some of these
you would get a different idea about what goes on in the Health Department and what they’re up against,” Douglas said.
A motion to adopt the cuts passed 16-4 among the committee’s House members but failed among the senators, with 10 senators voting against the motion and none voting in favor of it.
A competing motion to adopt the governor’s proposed spending plan also failed. In a divided voice vote, the committee then voted to adopt the “legislative recommendation,” which is based on the committee’s recommendation in preparation for last year’s regular legislative session and is identical to Hutchinson’s plan.
The committee’s approval authorizes legislative staff members to draft appropriation bills reflecting the plan that will be considered during the fiscal legislative session that starts Feb. 12.