Lawmakers in the House and Senate have started negotiations Friday on the details of a $5.8 billion spending package.
The six-person conference committee on this year’s spending bill, H.875, met for the first time on Friday to begin ironing out Vermont’s spending priorities for fiscal year 2017, which starts July 1.
The House passed a $5.77 billion spending package on March 25 by a 94-40 vote. The budget included $140,000 in state money to study a Dr. Dynasaur expansion, and left out a request from Gov. Peter Shumlin for $1 million to improve worker safety.
The Senate passed its own version of H.875 on Tuesday by a 23-5 vote. That bill includes $5.76 billion in spending, including $500,000 in savings from privatizing a risk management office in the Agency of Administration and eliminating the $140,000 appropriation for the Dr. Dynasaur study.
The committee spent Friday dealing with the low-hanging fruit within their negotiations. The committee agreed on various policy recommendations, such as having the Joint Fiscal Committee review performance audits during the off-session.
Here is a list of some of the additional spending items that the Senate put in their version of H.875:
• $25,000 for the Agency of Commerce and Community Development for marketing and economic development in the Bennington area
• $229,000 to restore last year’s cut to Reach Up for families with disabilities
• $118,500 for the Attorney General’s office
• $1.3 million for replacing cruisers for the Vermont State Police
• $263,000 to increase Medicaid reimbursement for group therapy
• $73,000 for suicide prevention initiatives
• $135,000 for the Vermont Law School legal clinic
• $30,000 for the law library at Vermont Law School
• $120,000 for a batterer intervention grant through the Department of Corrections
• $2.3 million to increase Medicaid reimbursement for ambulances
Here is a list of some of the cuts to the budget the Senate in the Senate’s version of H.875:
• $359,000 in Medicaid savings from adopting the 340B drug pricing formula
• $120,000 in spending requested in this year’s economic development bill
• $40,000 for a housing study
• $200,000 in supplemental aid to the Vermont State Colleges
• $300,000 in weatherization assistance
• $75,000 for finance and administration in the Agency of Education
• $2.3 million by requiring the 53rd week of Medicaid expenditures to be funded through any revenue surplus in fiscal year 2017
