Fitzsimon File

This was supposed to the week that the House debate a statewide smoking ban to protect the public health and a high risk insurance pool to make it possible for people with chronic illness to afford basic health insurance.

It still may be, but the smoking ban is on hold while supporters count votes and wait for absent lawmakers to return. Debate on the high risk pool may still come Wednesday afternoon, though counting on the legislative calendar is never a good idea and there is reportedly still wrangling behind the scenes about how to fund the program.

This week is bringing more budget news and little of it is good.  Tuesday the Health and Human Services subcommittee unveiled the latest version of its budget as House leaders are trying to stay on schedule to send a budget to the Senate in early May.  

The budget is slightly better than an earlier version, but that’s not saying much. It adds a little more money for Smart Start, moves some mental health money around and spends less overall on public health initiatives, though it increases funding for HIV/AIDS prevention programs. It spends less on Medicaid by adjusting projections of what keeping up with inflation will cost.

Overall, the budget still falls $14 million short of what Governor Mike Easley proposed in new funding for human service programs in a budget that was widely criticized by human service advocates for its lack of investments, particularly in mental health programs.  The latest House plan spends $30 million in new funding for mental health, though not all of that would pay to expand services. 

The House recommendation is still less than a fifth of what Subcommittee Co-Chair Rep. Verla Insko calls for in legislation she filed for expanded funding for the mental health system.  This latest House budget is still just a meager attempt at addressing the mental health and human service crises in the state.

The subcommittee will vote on the recommendations Thursday and then the plan goes to the main budget writers, who may increase funding for some programs if they prevail in a battle with the Senate over the fate of the 2001 tax increases that are set to expire next year.

Easley’s inadequate budget is based on continuing the increases in the sales tax and the income tax on the wealthy, but Senate leaders are reportedly insisting that both taxes expire as scheduled, which would mean $300 million less to help people with mental illness or reduce the waiting list for child care subsidies.

Earlier Tuesday, Republican leaders of the House and Senate met with reporters to criticize the suggestion of continuing the two taxes, saying Democrats would be breaking a promise to the taxpayers. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger and House Minority Leader Paul Stam also complained about other bills to raise revue that have been introduced. 

It is not clear exactly how Berger and Stam want to pay for the costs associated with the state’s booming growth or why they only mention the taxes as a broken promise. The state also promised single mothers help with child care, yet thousands of kids languish in a waiting list. The state promises to provide mental health services to families who can’t afford them, yet people across the state cannot access the services they need.

While the House budget looks bad and Berger and Stam’s position that cutting taxes on the wealthy is more important than providing services is worse, neither comes close in absurdity to the latest from Raleigh’s leading free market fundamentalist think tank, a document released Tuesday called the “Freedom Budget”

The bizarre proposal not only ends the temporary tax increases, it cuts the state corporate tax rate too.  It slashes funding for teacher assistants, dramatically increases tuition at UNC campuses, effectively abolishes Smart Start, ends the program to help poor schools, abolishes the Housing Trust Fund, cuts health care programs for children, you get the idea.

It is more of a Freedom from reality budget than a serious proposal, but it does allow Stam and Berger to seem more rational, with their disingenuous claim that increased state spending is somehow irresponsible, despite exploding enrollments at public schools, community colleges and universities, and the skyrocketing cost of health care.

People in North Carolina deserve an honest discussion about state priorities and how to address them. Enough with the misleading and simplistic rhetoric about taxes. Let’s solve some problems.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.