Oct 4, 2007 10:16 am US/Eastern
House Budget Headed To The Floor Friday
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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
The Budget and Policy Council for Florida's House of Representatives has signed off on a slimmed down budget. The proposal now moves to the floor of the full House on Friday for debate.
The legislators, meeting in Tallahassee in a special 10 day session, are trying to trim more than $1 billion from the state's $71 billion dollar budget. To do so, Republican House members say they're not really making any cuts, but instead, they're scaling back the amount of increases given to state funded issues last year.
"Unfortunately when you look at the budget, education and healthcare are the largest," said representative Ellyn Bogdanoff of Ft. Lauderdale, "so they are going to unfortunately take the largest dollar cut, but not the largest percentage cut. Everyone is going to have to take a little hit for us to balance the budget."
Wednesday, representatives from community colleges, like Miami Dade and Broward Community College, said the proposed cuts were not as deep as they could have been.
"The legislature listened to the concerns of Miami Dade and community colleges in general," said Miami Dade College representative Victoria Hernandez, "and are treating us fairly with cuts. We know we have to take a hit."
In the case of B-C-C, lawmakers approved a five percent tuition hike and approved the use of non-recurring dollars to offset the projected loss.
In the realm of healthcare, the legislature is considering cutting Medicaid funding for illegal aliens which could be a major blow for public hospital in South Florida.
"In the case of Jackson Memorial, it's a $19 and half million hit," said Ron Book, a hospital lobbyist. "Miami Children's will take a million and a half dollar hit. Mt. Sinai, a million and a half dollar hit."
When asked by
CBS4 senior investigative reporter Brian Andrews if these cuts were related to the treatment of immigrants, Book replied absolutely.
"It is undocumented aliens which you have to take care of," said Book, "You're not going to let them die on a street corner."
Some South Florida doctors are also concerned that programs that help people with disabilities will be placed on the chopping block.
"If there's an economic restraint," said Dr. Julio Casas, "it's not only to jeopardize my treatment plan, it's going to jeopardize their health. We all know there are problems, we're just trying to look for the proper solutions."
Thursday, House committees will debate the issues and create a bill that can be taken to the floor of the House for a full vote.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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