From the Orlando Sentinel
by Aaron Deslatte
Florida House and Senate budget writers are crafting a $69 billion-plus spending plan that would deliver most of Gov. Rick Scott's top priorities, from tax incentives for corporations to Medicaid cuts and a $1.1 billion boost in classroom spending.
The state budget taking shape near the midpoint of the 60-day session would accomplish those goals by relying on higher tuition, less road construction, lower payments to hospitals treating the poor and fewer dollars for corporate breaks than the governor had requested.
Scott signaled this week that he didn't support higher tuition costs for college and university students, but the plans taking shape would rely on the automatic 15 percent "differential" tuition hikes that universities are allowed to impose.
The House budget cuts state funding for universities by 8.4 percent and relies on $245 million in tuition hikes to offset those cuts.
"A good many of [university presidents] have asked for this opportunity to raise tuition," said Higher Education Budget Chair Marlene O'Toole, R-The Villages. "It's the budget we got."
Scott has said he wanted to keep Florida's tuition rates lower than other states' as a competitive advantage and harked back to his own days as a self-financed college student. But he may not have much say in the decision.
House Appropriations Chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said Wednesday that the governor won't be able to veto the hikes because they aren't being implemented by a line item in the budget.
The $69.2 billion budget advanced by Grimsley's Appropriations Committee for the 2012-13 fiscal year would boost state spending on K-12 classrooms by an average of $141 per student. That partially restores a cut of more than $1.35 billion — or $585 per student — that lawmakers and Scott approved this year.
But most of the criticism Wednesday was directed at the House's plan to transfer $120 million out of a road-building trust fund and plans to shutter seven prisons. Representatives from Jefferson County — just east of Tallahassee — said closing a prison there would turn their community into a "ghost town."
"They are real people. They have real problems and real children. They lack at this point in time real opportunity," said Rep. Leonard Bembry, D-Greenville, before the committee defeated an amendment to restore $10 million for the prison.
At the same time, House Republicans have infused many of their own priorities into the spending plan.
For example, it includes $27 million to create a completely online university, a goal House Speaker-designate Will Weatherford asked the Florida Board of Governors to consider this month.
Senate budget leaders plan to roll out more details of their spending plans next week and predict they will look a lot like the House version.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said Wednesday that his chamber would likely go in the same direction on tuition hikes.
"In this case, I hope that people recognize we have the fifth-lowest tuition in the country," he said.
But the Senate budget could differ in several areas.
Senate Pre-K-12 Education Budget Chairman David Simmons, R-Maitland, said he hoped the Senate could boost school spending by $1.3 billion — a nearly 4 percent increase.
"I am cautiously optimistic that we're going to exceed both the House's and governor's budgets," Simmons said.
But Haridopolos predicted it would be "tough" to fund Everglades and conservation land-buying programs at the level Scott had requested. The House included $35 million for Everglades but no money for the Florida Forever program.
The Senate is planning to adhere more closely to Scott's blueprint for Medicaid spending, particularly his proposal to start paying hospitals more similar rates for treatment they render to the nearly 3 million poor, sick and elderly people enrolled in the program.
"Paying for services in a more equitable way is where we need to go," said Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales.
Scott had recommended a nearly $2 billion cut to the $21 billion Medicaid system, financed largely by evening out rates for hospitals — which would impose deeper cuts in South Florida and some other urban markets.
The House imposes smaller cuts — $453 million to hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs — while boosting overall Medicaid spending to handle enrollment growth.
The House budget also gives Scott $73 million in tax incentives for corporations that pledge to create jobs, and an additional $100 million in tax cuts on corporate income and the purchase of machinery. Scott had requested a total of $230 million in business incentives.
adeslatte@tribune.com or 850-222-5564
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-house-budget-advances-20120201,0,47247.story
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