The House Appropriations Committee signed off on a budget proposal Monday that would moderately increase spending and restore funding to health and disabilities programs the Scott administration has proposed cutting.
The budget sailed out of committee in a unanimous vote and will likely go up for debate on the House floor by the end of week.
The chair of the committee, Rep. Kitty Toll, D-Danville, said the proposal makes “critical investments” for Vermonters and doesn’t increase taxes or fees.
“I am optimistic and hopeful. I think it’s a responsible budget,” she said in an interview after Monday’s vote.
The House budget’s total proposed spending is close to the $5.86 billion mark set by the Scott administration’s proposal, according to a Joint Fiscal Office analysis.
Last year’s budget totaled at about $5.78 billion.
While the House’s proposed general fund spending is slightly higher than administration’s — by about $7 million more than Scott’s $1.59 billion recommendation — the report shows the House is spending less on education and transportation, driving down the total price tag.
“Our growth rate is well within the range of what many are looking at in regards to affordability,” Toll said. “But our committee also really was concerned with making those needed investments, like for disabilities services.”
The bill, which the committee finished drafting on Friday, would restore $2 million to a waiver program that provides support to more than 3,000 Vermonters with developmental disabilities. Those Vermonters risked losing services under the Scott administration’s proposal, which would have cut the funding.
The proposal would provide $750,000 to fund the attendant services program, which faced elimination under Scott’s budget. More than 40 severely disabled Vermonters still rely on the program for in-home care, even though it was frozen in fiscal year 2015.
The House committee’s bill would keep a loan repayment program for doctors alive by funding it at about $308,000. It restores half of the primary care subsidy and payments to hospitals for medical treatment of uninsured Vermonters.
In addition, the bill proposes to spend the $28 million windfall as the result of a tobacco settlement. Half of the money will be spent on efforts to fight opioid addiction in Vermont. The House Appropriations Committee is proposing that the lion’s share of the second half be funneled into the teachers’ retirement system.
Paying down the teachers retirement obligation by $10 million will ultimately save $29 million in interest, according to Rep. Maureen Dakin, D-Colchester.
The committee puts $2 million of the tobacco settlement money in the state’s rainy day reserves.
Toll said this will help the state address future financial rough patches.
“We will have another downturn in our economy,” Toll said. “This committee has worked very hard and they’ve kept an eye on our reserves so that we will be in a better position when we do experience another downturn.”
