This afternoon, the Senate General Government subcommittee on Appropriations passed out SB 954, which contains the budget for statutory revenue sharing/EVIP for next years’ budget 2012-13. This is NOT to be confused with the existing language in place for the current budget year. The Senate retained the same funding levels that the Governor proposed – $210 million for statutory funding and $25 million for consolidation grants. However, they made several positive changes to the certification process the Governor suggested in his proposal. For the dashboard requirement, they proposed a 2 year budget outlook instead of 3 year. For consolidation plans, they removed the requirement to have an additional proposal. For the 3rd category – they appear to have eliminated the need to be in exact compliance with each of the employee compensation criteria though it is not crystal clear, and removed the health care component completely – saying it was addressed in PA 152. This is very good progess, and we are pleased the Senate recognized many of t he issues with the Governor’s proposed changes. The House is also passing out their own version this week, and it will be a few weeks before all of this language is finalized by the House and Senate and sent on to the Governor.
Summer Minnick is the Director of State Affairs for the League. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or [email protected]