LITTLE ROCK — The House approved legislation Thursday encompassing a $4.7 billion budget for next fiscal year, over the complaints of some members that the measure avoids action now toward addressing a looming Medicaid shortfall.
The 55-25 vote on House Bill 1163, with the identical Senate-approved version already on the House calendar, kept lawmakers on pace to complete a new state budget Friday though some legislative leaders suggested there was a remote chance that continuing talks on non-budget matters could extend the fiscal session into the weekend.
Negotiations went on late into the evening, but no deal was reached on a proposed repeal of a tax break for truckers or other issues.
“It’ll continue through the night,” House Speaker Robert S. Moore Jr., D-Arkansas, told reporters after the House adjourned. “In the morning, we’re going to either have some agreement or we’re going to go home.”
Sen. President Pro Tem Paul Bookout, D-Jonesboro, and Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, both said it appeared that absent an agreement on the three issues the session would end Friday after the Senate and House give final passage to the budget bill.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Gov. Mike Beebe huddled privately with leaders on both sides of the Capitol on Thursday. The governor said later he did so to make sure the budget — his top priority — was on track and to gauge progress on addressing the non-budget matters, particularly on eliminating or postponing a $4 million sales tax exemption for large trucks and trailers, which he supports.
Beebe said lawmakers were attempting to come up with a way to address the tax break, legislation dealing with out-of-state mortgage lenders and a proposal that would toughen parole eligibility for sex offenders.
“I think there are three issues out there and all of them have different issues,” Beebe told reporters. “They may never come to an agreement, they may go home like it is, but … the main thing is we have gotten a budget and we have removed language that was problematic from budget bills.”
The budget, which closely follows Beebe’s recommendations, includes an additional $114 million for Medicaid and an additional $56 million for public education next fiscal year but keeps spending flat for most agencies.
On the House floor, several Republican members spoke against the budget, saying it did nothing to gird the state against a coming Medicaid shortfall that state human services officials say could reach $400 million.
“Our vote today is to kick the can down on Medicaid,” said Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia.
Jean said he was concerned that “we have not tried to save money, find savings where we could and put this money back, because at the end of the 2013 fiscal year we are hitting a brick wall and we all know it.”
The Joint Budget Committee earlier this week rejected a GOP proposal to set aside up to $100 million from the state surplus this year and next to help address the problem. Beebe argued for maintaining flexibility with surplus funds.
Several House Democrats spoke in support of the budget measure Thursday.
“Having worked now over five years with budgets and having the privilege of serving as a House member on the Joint Budget Committee, I see that this particular RSA (Revenue Stabilization Act) is very conservative,” said Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith. “By no means is it perfect, but is it good, effective budgeting? Yes it is.”
Thursday morning, the Joint Budget Committee stripped language from an appropriation bill for the state fiscal office that the House attached Wednesday in an attempt to delay a tax break for large trucks and some trailers that is scheduled to go into effect July 1. The panel also rejected an amendment to the secretary of state’s budget regarding mortgage lenders.
Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, a budget committee co-chairman, said the appropriation bills lacked the 75 votes necessary for passage in the House with the amendments included.
Webb said she expected lawmakers to continue talks on the issues, and she said the session could go into Saturday if some solutions can be found.
“There’s not a lot of time left, but we’ve aimed all along to get out on Friday. It looks like we’ll get out on Saturday, but it’s more important that we do the work correctly than to rush it at this stage of the game,” she said. “If we have stay a little bit longer then we’ll stay.”
Lawmakers approved the tax break for truckers in 2011 in exchange for the trucking industry’s backing for a diesel tax increase to support a $1.1 billion bond program for highway improvements. The industry cooled to the idea after polling showed the measure lacked support among voters.
Many legislators had hoped to repeal the tax break this session after the trucking lobby withdrew its support for a bond election. The industry did not oppose the move.
The amendment on the secretary of state’s budget would have allowed out-of-state chartered lending institutions to do business in the state without having to register with the secretary of state.
Some lawmakers suggested the amendment would benefit big mortgage companies and cause home foreclosures to rise.
Efforts to toughen sex offender parole eligibility arose in response to the state Parole Board granting parole to a former church music minister convicted of sexual indecency with children who had served 18 months of a 10-year sentence.
A resolution that would allow consideration of a bill to allow the Parole Board to deny parole eligibility to sex offenders passed in the Senate last week. On Thursday the House adopted an amendment to the resolution that proposes limiting the measure to people convicted of sexual indecency with a child.