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Heard in the Halls
Heard in the Halls is an email service of NAMI North Carolina to provide updates on state legislative and policy issues. Heard in the Halls is produced for community advocates at least monthly and more frequently during sessions of the General Assembly. To be added to the Heard in the Halls list send a message to
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Last
Wednesday morning, the Senate announced its counter proposal to the
House Budget plan. The Senate plan attempts to fill gaps in the budget
with
new recurring tax revenue. It eliminates the two hundred million dollar
hole in the Medicaid budget for the 2nd year of the biennium and removes the
"management flexibility" language from the budget. The Senate
proposes to
spend the same on DHHS as its original budget, put 15 million in the Mental
Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse trust fund the first year,
and spend an additional 15 million on Mental Health/Developmental
Disabilities/Substance Abuse in the second year of the biennium.
The Senate proposal funds these increases by using some of the Federal Tax
Relief funds and by raising taxes on alcohol and tobacco. Other smaller
revenue items are included which allows the Senate to spend 80 million more
than the House in the first year and 600 million more in the second year.
Though the Senate proposal is not perfect, it would go a long way in
stabilizing the revenue base and provide for some expansion of service for
people in the Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse
system. Though the Senate has made their proposal, it faces serious
problems in the House due to the additional revenue items.
Action Needed
We need to show a groundswell of support for this proposal. E-mails,
calls
and letters to House members are vitally important if this proposal has any
chance. Contact with House leadership and members of the Conference
Committee are particularly important (listed below). Our message is
simple:
Please support the Senate Budget proposal in order to avoid serious cuts to
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse services.
Calls and e-mails should continue throughout the week. Now is the time
for
action!
Speaker Richard Morgan
Democratic Leader Joe Hackney
Speaker Jim Black
Republican Leader Joe Kiser
Conference Committee
James Crawford, Chair
Wilma Sherrill, Chair
Members: Alexander, Allen, Baker, Brubaker, Cole, Culpepper, Daughtridge,
Earle, Farmer-Butterfield, Fox, Gorman, Grady, Hackney, Haire, Howard,
Jeffus, Justice, Kiser, LaRoque, Luebke, McComas, McGee, Miner, Nye, Owens,
Sauls, Stiller, Tolson, Wainwright, Williams, Wright, Yongue