Today is Finally the Day for Budget Reports

September 25, 2020

The Special Session, as I have said repeatedly, has been difficult to predict; today the House and Senate “Money” Committees are reporting their plans.  This is step one and we will detail the two approaches later this afternoon to illustrate the similarities and differences.  But as a start the items included in the House Appropriations Committee Report includes:

• Contingent appropriations for DD Rate Refresh (beginning in January) and Nursing rate increases for FY22; “contingent” upon the revenue forecast not being reduced in December by more than $100M
• Appropriation of the CARES Act Funds (taking the control of the funds from the administration) which includes $25M for “retainer” payments
• Restoration of some GF dollars for the pilot programs directed toward solving the hospital census issues
• Language to allow designated persons to accompany and visit disabled patients in hospitals

We will provide more detail this afternoon!