The next step for the recently Senate passed CSHB 1, appropriations bill for 2012-13 biennium, is for the bill to go back before the House. It is expected the House will reject the Senate version and appoint a conference committee to negotiate a compromise between the two bills.
The Senate version of the bill spends almost $12 billion more than the House. The largest difference between the Senate and House versions of the state budget is the funding level for public education. The Senate version added $4.3 billion more into public schools. The Senate version also restored Medicaid reimbursement rates to 6% average reduction and provided $200 million more for mental health services, among other things.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Steve Ogden has also stated there are other bills that are an essential piece of the Senate budget puzzle; SB 23 (Nelson) the Medicaid cost savings containment bill which has already passed out of the Senate and was referred to House Appropriations on May 2 and SB 22 (Shapiro) the school finance bill which has yet to come to the Senate floor. Other bills that are a part of the budget puzzle include the various Fiscal Matters bills that generate non-tax revenue or accelerate certain tax revenues. The Senate passes some of their fiscal matters bills on May 5 (see article below for more details) and passed out Sen. Duncan’s SB 1811 on April 29 which was expected to generate around $4 billion. The House Fiscal Matters bills listed on the House calendar this week have been repeatedly postponed – they are now scheduled for Monday May 9.