Miss-Delectable
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- Apr 18, 2004
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The Daily Home - Protect services for deaf blind
No one blames Gov. Robert Bentley for prorating state budget allocations. He had no choice; Alabama law requires that the state spend no more money than it has revenue.
Some agencies are feeling the squeeze more than others, but nearly all of them are sharing the pain. And let’s be clear: The pain of state budget cuts is that state residents do not receive services the state has customarily provided.
Gov. Bentley warned last week that the 15 percent proration of the General Fund budget and the 3 percent proration of the Education Trust Fund for the rest of the current fiscal year are just the beginning. Next year, the cuts will be deeper.
Legislators are scrambling to find ways to increase revenue, to prioritize spending and to stretch the available dollars. Ideas floated so far include closing tax loopholes for companies that operate in multiple states; building toll roads for certain heavily trafficked routes; dropping the DROP deferred retirement program for teachers and state workers; and eliminating state funding for parks, historical sites and tourist attractions. These are all creative ideas that should be explored and possibly exploited.
One idea that comes before the Education Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee today, however, seems out of character with the priorities of a governor who said he was willing to forego funding state parks and tourism sites in favor of ensuring Alabama’s children have health care.
House Bill 432 would raid a fund set aside to ensure that physically handicapped people have access to communication technology. It provides money to pay for the Dual Party Relay System, in which words spoken into a telephone are transcribed into text for the deaf. The fund also provides information services for the blind and additional telephone services for those who are hearing-impaired or deaf and blind.
The bill, sponsored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jay Love of Montgomery, would take $30 million in four increments from October of this year to July 2012 and transfer it to the Education Trust Fund. By the best estimate available, that would exhaust the fund’s current holdings.
It’s a hard choice that pits the needs of public school children against those of the deaf and blind. But this decision really should not be all that difficult.
First of all, the money was collected for a specific purpose spelled out in state law. The disabled community should not be penalized just because the Public Service Commission, which administers the fund, has failed to distribute all of the money.
Additionally, this $30 million will not make much of a difference in the $5.5 billion Education Trust Fund, but it will pay for myriad benefits to Alabama’s deaf and blind populations.
Finally, the speed with which this bill has moved from introduction to committee consideration appears suspect. If changes are to be made to the existing law, the legislators have an obligation to consider the opinions of the people who will be losing access to the money, and not just pass it without ever hearing from members the disabled community.
A group of disabled residents, some deaf and some blind, will be traveling from Talladega to Montgomery this morning to make sure their voices are heard — whether Rep. Love wants to hear them or not.
In his State of the State address, Gov. Bentley promised that his budget would provide “significant increases in state funding for disabled and special-needs children and adults.” Is this what he had in mind?
Read more: The Daily Home - Protect services for deaf blind
No one blames Gov. Robert Bentley for prorating state budget allocations. He had no choice; Alabama law requires that the state spend no more money than it has revenue.
Some agencies are feeling the squeeze more than others, but nearly all of them are sharing the pain. And let’s be clear: The pain of state budget cuts is that state residents do not receive services the state has customarily provided.
Gov. Bentley warned last week that the 15 percent proration of the General Fund budget and the 3 percent proration of the Education Trust Fund for the rest of the current fiscal year are just the beginning. Next year, the cuts will be deeper.
Legislators are scrambling to find ways to increase revenue, to prioritize spending and to stretch the available dollars. Ideas floated so far include closing tax loopholes for companies that operate in multiple states; building toll roads for certain heavily trafficked routes; dropping the DROP deferred retirement program for teachers and state workers; and eliminating state funding for parks, historical sites and tourist attractions. These are all creative ideas that should be explored and possibly exploited.
One idea that comes before the Education Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee today, however, seems out of character with the priorities of a governor who said he was willing to forego funding state parks and tourism sites in favor of ensuring Alabama’s children have health care.
House Bill 432 would raid a fund set aside to ensure that physically handicapped people have access to communication technology. It provides money to pay for the Dual Party Relay System, in which words spoken into a telephone are transcribed into text for the deaf. The fund also provides information services for the blind and additional telephone services for those who are hearing-impaired or deaf and blind.
The bill, sponsored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jay Love of Montgomery, would take $30 million in four increments from October of this year to July 2012 and transfer it to the Education Trust Fund. By the best estimate available, that would exhaust the fund’s current holdings.
It’s a hard choice that pits the needs of public school children against those of the deaf and blind. But this decision really should not be all that difficult.
First of all, the money was collected for a specific purpose spelled out in state law. The disabled community should not be penalized just because the Public Service Commission, which administers the fund, has failed to distribute all of the money.
Additionally, this $30 million will not make much of a difference in the $5.5 billion Education Trust Fund, but it will pay for myriad benefits to Alabama’s deaf and blind populations.
Finally, the speed with which this bill has moved from introduction to committee consideration appears suspect. If changes are to be made to the existing law, the legislators have an obligation to consider the opinions of the people who will be losing access to the money, and not just pass it without ever hearing from members the disabled community.
A group of disabled residents, some deaf and some blind, will be traveling from Talladega to Montgomery this morning to make sure their voices are heard — whether Rep. Love wants to hear them or not.
In his State of the State address, Gov. Bentley promised that his budget would provide “significant increases in state funding for disabled and special-needs children and adults.” Is this what he had in mind?
Read more: The Daily Home - Protect services for deaf blind