Stimulus money decisions going on in Helena
Montana's use of the Federal stimulus dollars can be tracked on a state website: http://recovery.mt.gov. This site is quite extensive and even includes grant application forms and regulations.
I have been appointed to two sub-committees of the Legislative Finance Committee during this interim. The first one is charged with monitoring the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) better know as the stimulus money.
Like many of you, I am concerned with our national debt and did not vote to accept this money. Strapping our children and grandchildren with this debt will not lead to economic recovery. Neither will temporary job creation, another layer of government officials, nor more accounting and audit work by each state.
It has been accepted by the state, so let's make sure that we use it as wisely as possible. And Montana businesses need the jobs here, not California companies, even though they have more federal influence.
One interesting item is that there is more stimulus money coming than included in the original House Bill 645 spending package. The Department of the Interior has committed $120 million to Montana. About $40 million will be used on the north central water project.
The sub-committee will be setting up the parameters of our monitoring in the next month. If you have any specific area you would like me to review, please email or call.
The second sub-committee I will work on is performance measurement. We work with state agencies to set up goals and ways to measure those goals. Most interesting will be the analysis of the expanded children's healthcare initiative.
The state is the insurer, but we have been contracting the administration to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. The Federal Government allows administrative costs of 10 percent and anything above that is paid for by the state. We are also spending lots of money on recruitment.
During the last legislative session, our Department of Health and Human Services asked for 60 new employees to staff the new Children's Healthcare Initiative. This new plan will combine the existing Medicaid and CHIPS programs. Both already have full staffs. So, the Appropriations sub-committee cut the new employee number down to 24.
There is a court case now to allow the children's healthcare program to cover birth control. CHIPS only covers children until they are 18 years old. I do not believe we need to supply birth control to children under 18.
One final problem with the children's initiative, the Feds have only promised $32 million and we were counting on $60 million because of the expanded program. We want more children on CHIPS because the federal match is 77 percent fed and 23 percent state. Medicaid match is 50-50.
The Legislative Finance Committee will not get the latest revenue estimates until July. Many businesses and individuals pay quarterly estimates and these are due on June 15.
Daily receipts are down. The ending fund balance when we left the session in April was about $260 million. Lowered revenues could delete this cushion.
Revenues lag behind recovery, because taxes are based on what you or a business earned the previous year. For that reason, I'm especially concerned with the income projections for the next few years.
I will continue to keep you informed, especially when we get the new revenue estimates. Call me at 849-6096, email jannataylor@montana.com or write PO Box 233, Dayton, MT 59914.