SACRAMENTO - The Budget Conference Committee, chaired by Sen. Denise Ducheny (Democrat – San Diego) met June 24th and took action on some “open” budget items in the budget areas covering resources, general government and human services (foster care) and also heard a brief follow-up presentation of realigning or transferring certain State functions and a stream of funding to the counties, and also to review. Except for foster care, none of those actions had direct impact on people with disabilities, mental health needs, the blind, seniors, their families, community organizations, facilities or workers who provide supports and services – though some had indirect impact.

The Budget Conference Committee adjourned just before 4:00 p.m., but did not set an exact hearing date and time when it will convene next and will meet “upon call of the chair”. Ducheny said she understood that various workgroups focusing on certain budget issues – including In-Home Supportive Services, some issues impacting Medi-Cal – will probably need to continue working through next week on Wednesday.

Ducheny said the Budget Conference Committee will remain “on call” of the chair until staff or the workgroups have completed their work on possibly resolving or coming up with a possible agreement on a budget item.

She said that the committee was “narrowing the open list [of budget items] every day” and that the next big issue the committee will likely tackle will be the remaining “open” budget items impacting education, which also includes the AB 3632 mental health special education mandate suspension that the Governor proposed.

New State Budget Year Now Just 6 Days Away – But No Agreement In Sight

California’s new budget year begins just 6 days away on July 1st – but virtually no one in the State Capitol expects any agreement on a new state budget by that time – or anytime soon, with vast disagreements on how to resolve the $20 billion deficit among Assembly Democrats, State Senate Democrats, Legislative Republicans, and the Governor. The Budget Conference Committee has not been able to – so far – to bridge any of the major differences on how to close the budget shortfall that is likely to grow worse in the coming weeks.

Conference Committee Did Not Review or Take Action On Health or Human Services “Open” Budget Items

· The Budget Conference Committee did not review or take action on any of the “open” human services budget items, which includes In-Home Supportive Services, foster care and CalWORKS, or “open” health budget items which includes Medi-Cal, AB 1629 nursing home quality assurance fee, the additional 1.25% reduction in payments to most regional center providers and operations, and AB 3632 mental health special education mandate suspension.

· Some of those “open” issues are the focus of a stakeholder workgroup – including In-Home Supportive Services.

· The additional 1.25% reduction to regional centers – which would total nearly $50 million in additional cuts when adding in federal funds – however, is not the subject of an ongoing workgroup meetings that the Budget Conference Committee is waiting for a recommendation or possible agreement on.

Conference Committee Kept Many Items “Open” For Now

· A budget item that is “open” means the Budget Conference Committee previously went through the agenda that the issue was on, but decided to delay taking action until later – either because certain members of the committee weren’t ready to vote or more information was needed.

· It is generally normal or expected for a budget conference committee, in going through the agenda for the first time, to pass over major or controversial items keeping them “open” - and then begin taking final action in the last few days – which for this year would be this week and next week.

· The “open” items in the section of the state budget dealing with “human services” includes In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), Department of Aging senior programs, SSI/SSP (Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment), foster care and CalWorks

· The “open items” in the section of the state budget dealing with “health” includes several Medi-Cal issues; a regional center related issues dealing with a 1.25% additional payment reduction to most regional center providers and to regional center operations; Healthy Families (the state’s health insurance program for low income children matched with federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program funding) and mental health (the proposal by the Governor to suspend the AB 3632 mental health special education mandate is in the “health” budget section and also the “K-12 education” budget section.

Next Steps: Conference Committee Will Likely Meet Through End of Month

· As previously reported, the budget conference committee phase of the budget process is longer than normal – and the committee will likely end up meeting through the rest of this month next week to finish up its work. But that finishes the conference committee phase of the long budget process – with a long ways to go after that to reach a deal that will result in a State Budget that the Governor signs into law.

· If the Budget Conference Committee is still not able to agree on an action of a specific budget item, then the issue would have to be worked out on the State Senate and Assembly floor that would involve agreement by the legislative leaders and Governor.

· After the budget conference committee finishes its work, the budget plan, currently contained in AB 190 (the bill number can and will likely change over the course of the budget process), will go the floors of both the Assembly and State Senate.

· No action by the budget conference committee – or previous actions by the budget subcommittees – are final until a State budget is passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

· With major differences on how to close the $20 billion budget gap, no one expects agreement on a budget deal anytime soon.