[T]he House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed the annual budget adjustment bill for fiscal year 2019 in record time and with very little pushback on major Scott administration proposals.
Rep. Kitty Toll, D-Danville, chair of the budget-writing panel, said the mid-year true-up of the state’s finances represents about 1 percent of the overall current year budget.
It helped that lawmakers and the governor’s office had about $40 million in additional monies to work with.
House Appropriations and the Scott administration put most of that money – about $25.5 million — toward retiring an internal loan for retired teachers health care benefits ($22.2 million) and an additional payment on the pension fund ($3.3 million).
The panel put $1.8 million into cybersecurity for the Agency of Digital Services, which manages the state’s computer systems.
Money for school safety grants that the administration wanted to distribute in fiscal year 2019 was held for the 2020 budget. Toll said that in this “critical area” the committee wanted to ensure that “the right amount of money is distributed to the right schools with the most needs.”
Toll said the panel is concerned about the state setting a baseline standard for safety infrastructure improvements and distributing the money accordingly. Some schools need basic door locks and intercom systems, she said. The committee wants to make sure all schools have the basic safety measures in place before awarding grants for security cameras and more sophisticated equipment.
The governor’s office wanted to pre-fund lead testing every school in the state. The panel decided to divide that between the 2019 and 2020 budgets.
The committee rejected the governor’s plan to absorb $2.5 million from a child care financial assistance program into the bottom line. “We left that in the fund to supplement child care needs,” Toll said.
The Department of Public Safety’s proposal to shift funding from body cameras to rifles was also rebuffed.
The full House is expected to vote on the 2019 budget adjustment bill next week.
