MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A House of Representatives committee on Wednesday approved a lean general fund budget that attempts to save money in anticipation of tougher fiscal times next year.
The $1.8 billion spending plan keeps funding level at most state agencies and strips a state employee pay raise proposed by Gov. Robert Bentley that lawmakers said the state could not afford.
House Ways and Means General Fund Committee Chairman Steve Clouse said that next year the state won’t have the $105 million in BP oil spill settlement money that is helping prop up this year’s Medicaid budget. Clouse said there are also unknowns about what changes the Trump administration might be made to Medicaid.
“It’s my desire, and I hope the desire of the majority of the Legislature, that we can hold back as much money as possible so when we deal with the loss of the BP money and also deal the unknowns that are taking place in Washington at this time,” said Clouse, R-Ozark.
The approval Wednesday puts the budget in line for a floor vote next week in the full House.
Bentley had proposed a 4 percent pay raise for state employees, which carried a price tag of about $19 million, but the committee stripped the proposal. “If you start chipping away at the money, all of our savings are going to be gone,” Clouse said.
Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, proposed an alternate plan to give each state employee a one-time $1,600 bonus. State employees haven’t had a cost-of-living adjustment since 2008.
“They do a tremendous job,” Knight said.
The committee tabled Knight’s bonus proposal.
Clouse said the budget instead steers available money to employee health insurance and state agencies.
“We are trying to make sure their health insurance doesn’t go up and they can keep their job,” Clouse said.
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