{"id":128133,"date":"2016-02-15T20:13:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T03:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=128133"},"modified":"2016-02-16T09:33:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T16:33:03","slug":"senate-oks-leaner-budget-sends-it-back-to-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/senate-oks-leaner-budget-sends-it-back-to-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate OKs leaner budget, sends it back to House"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The measure passed the full Senate Monday by a 39-to-1 vote, and the bill now heads to the House of Representatives. The Republican-led House is expected to concur and pass it on to Gov. Susana Martinez, who can line-item veto specific spending items before signing it into law.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>State lawmakers emptied their pockets and cleaned out their cupboards <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148967\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span> in passing a trimmed-down spending plan for 2017 that lowers general fund appropriations at a time of tumbling revenues.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legislation.aspx?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=2&amp;year=16\" target=\"_blank\">$6.2 billion budget<\/a> that pays for everything from education to criminal justice reduces the general fund by $7 million starting\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148968\"><span class=\"aQJ\">July 1<\/span><\/span> and moves $129 million from dozens of unspent accounts to pay for basic operations.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/nmpolitics-net-cant-exist-without-your-financial-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The measure passed the full Senate <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148969\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span> by a 39-to-1 vote, and the bill now heads to the House of Representatives. The Republican-led House is expected to concur and pass it on to Gov. Susana Martinez, who can line-item veto specific spending items before signing it into law.<\/p>\n<p>In spending down reserves to the lowest level in years and tapping unused accounts, the one-time bridge means the battle over tax revenues in New Mexico is probably just getting started.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Next year we have no more sweeps and no more [reserve] balances,&#8221; said Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa. &#8220;The budget is the best we can do and will hold us up for the remainder of the year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve tried to sweep every corner of money we might have,&#8221; said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. &#8220;That tells you what the conditions are going to be in 2018.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Revenue flowing into the state general fund is closely tied to the price of oil and gas. A $1 decline in the price of crude can wipe out $10 million in tax revenues. The price of a barrel of oil was $29 <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148970\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Monday<\/span><\/span>. The Senate-passed budget is based on an average price of $38.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As written, the 2017 budget contains general fund reserves of 5.5 percent. But lawmakers have also agreed to give Gov. Martinez more authority to make spending cuts and draw another 1 to 2 percent from reserves so she wouldn&#8217;t have to call a special session.<\/p>\n<p>Colleges and universities, which are seeing enrollment drops, would see the biggest appropriations decline in 2017 of about 2 percent. Primary education sees a small boost with some of that going to increase salaries for more advanced teachers by $2,000 a year. Other increases are set aside for the departments of Public Safety and Corrections, the Children, Youth and Families Department, courts and the Office of the Public Defender.<\/p>\n<p>On Medicaid, the state estimates the program needs $75 million more for 2016 and 2017 to fully pay for the expansion of new enrollees under the Affordable Care Act. The budgets are leaving that $40 million short.<\/p>\n<p>It directs the Human Services Department to reduce projected spending in the program, which provides health-care coverage for 37 percent of the state.<\/p>\n<p>The budget also directs the department to cut reimbursement rates paid to Medicaid providers, including rescinding a rate increase to primary-care physicians.<\/p>\n<p>Some $107.4 million would go into the Medicaid behavioral health care program that serves 160,000 New Mexicans, a 1.7 increase from the current budget. But the budget also calls for the state to seek reduced reimbursement rates to behavioral health care providers.<\/p>\n<p>On the Senate floor, Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, asked Smith which providers would see the lower reimbursements.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone,&#8221; Smith replied.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Dye, president of the New Mexico Hospital Association, said <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148971\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span> that &#8220;down the road we&#8217;ll have further difficult discussions with Human Services&#8221; as the 45 hospitals across the state absorb the reductions.<\/p>\n<p>Those hospitals might have to reduce programs, cut jobs and slow down construction projects, Dye said. Some of his group&#8217;s hospitals see 5 percent in revenues from Medicaid while others see more than 50 percent in Medicaid revenue, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Just 10 weeks ago the state was forecasting up to $232 million in new revenue for 2017. When the session convened in mid-January, most of the agency budgets had already been drafted to meet that guidance.<\/p>\n<p>Then on Jan. 27, the House Appropriations and Finance Committee was told to revise its forecast, and use $30 million of new money as a benchmark. Since then revenue tracking data suggests a broader collapse of spending in the state that is eroding both GRT tax receipts and other streams such as corporate income tax.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said the budget passed <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148972\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday<\/span><\/span> reflects the latest information he obtained from the state Department of Finance and Administration last week &#8212; negative new money of $95 million. The spending reductions are a fraction of that due to the one-time sweeps and fund transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Still the swing shows just how reliant the state remains on the energy sector.<\/p>\n<p>George Mu\u00f1oz, D-Gallup, said the federal-government stimulus money prevented steeper cuts during the 2009-10 downturn. But lessons have still been unheeded. &#8220;We need to diversify our economy and we need to do it rapidly,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Steven P. Neville, R-Aztec, said the Senate Finance Committee agonized over the spending levels and &#8220;there are a lot of reasons to vote against this bill, things we&#8217;d all like to fund better,&#8221; he said. In the end, however, it is a compromise between Republican and Democratic lawmakers and Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>Before the vote, a handful of senators criticized Gov. Martinez for not coming forward with even a short-term revenue boost to avoid program cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is among those who approached House leaders offering to sponsor a 10-cent a gallon gasoline tax that could sunset. It would raise $140 million for the general fund the first two years and then be dedicated exclusively for roads.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was ready to go if they requested it,&#8221; said Smith.<\/p>\n<p>They didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not happy campers right now in the Legislature having to deal with this budget,&#8221; said Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque. But she said Democrats are not going to move a tax increase that would derail the budget or face a certain veto. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to just act on on our own when we hear nothing from the fourth floor,&#8221; she said, referring to Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>McSorley was the lone dissenter on the spending plan.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Bruce Krasnow at <a href=\"mailto:brucek@sfnewmexican.com\">brucek@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>.\u00a0Staff writer Justin Horwath contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Republican-led House is expected to concur and pass the budget on to Gov. Susana Martinez, who can line-item veto specific spending items before signing it into law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3250,196,118,107],"class_list":["post-128133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-legislative-session","tag-budget","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}