By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Early in this year’s legislative session, when the projected deficit for the state’s biennial budget stood between $5 and $6 billion, many lawmakers saw a silver lining in the possibility of taking a new look at the way programs, particularly those in the health and human service sectors, could be funded. But with the unofficial budget forecast released Feb. 18, which showed the deficit widening to at least $8 billion, and possibly more — the official forecast will be released later this month — that optimism is gone.
“It’s pretty glum,” said Zach Carstensen, director of government affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Carstensen lobbies the legislature on behalf of several Jewish organizations around the state.
“It means deeper cuts or more revenue, or cuts and revenue. Both have always been talked about,” he said. “I would expect deeper cuts.”
Gov. Christine Gregoire has pledged not to raise taxes, and with the recession and rising unemployment rate, making the case for higher taxes will be difficult. Which means cuts to services is the only real alternative.
Carstensen won’t know anything, however, until the Senate releases its version of the state budget later this month, but he said he expects the damage to health and human services programs will be less severe than what Gregoire cut from the budget she released in December.
“While the magnitude of the cuts may be greater, they may be distributed more equitably across different areas,” Carstensen said of the Senate’s version of the budget. The projected deficit has “gone up almost $2 billion, so I think that that optimism has given way to the hard reality that there are going to have to be really hard choices.”
One of Carstensen’s priorities early in the session had been to make the case to lawmakers about the importance of GA-U, the General Assistance–Unemployable fund, which offers state residents a temporary grant of $339 per month plus limited health coverage and food stamps.
“It’s the only safety net for people who can’t work and don’t qualify yet for [Social Security Insurance], or are waiting to get on SSI or some other Medicaid program or veterans benefits,” Carstensen said. “There are a lot of veterans on GA-U waiting to get on veterans’ benefits. It’s a big program and…if that cut holds, it’s going to have dramatic consequences.”
A long-term follow-up program called GA-X was preserved in the governor’s budget. That federally funded program can provide mental health services, a necessary component for many people who qualify, but eligibility depends upon recipients qualifying for Social Security.
“It’s in the state’s best interest to weed out these individuals,” said Carol Mullin, director of emergency services at Jewish Family Service. Mullin traveled to Olympia in late January to make a case to preserve GA-U.
“It is the safety net that [the Department of Social and Health Services] offers in terms of a financial program,” she said. “The people who need it, they really need it. They’ve got absolutely nothing else.”
Mullin suggested that the legislature could rescue the medical and food stamp parts of GA-U, or curtail the program’s availability.
“The legislature could give control back to DSHS to make proposals on how GA-U could save money, so it wouldn’t go away completely,” Mullin said.
Carstensen said that to kill GA-U completely would not be an easy choice for legislators.
“People will probably die if the program is eliminated,” Carstensen said.
With the federal stimulus package signed last month by President Barack Obama, the state will receive $2.06 billion toward Medicaid programs over two years, which could help in saving GA-U. The language that requires the stimulus money be put toward its intended use is somewhat vague, however.
“We urged the legislators not to divert the money, but to use the money for what it was intended,” said Jeff Cohn, CEO of the Caroline Kline Galland and Associates nursing and assisted living facilities.
On Feb. 25, Cohn traveled to Olympia with JFS’ Don Armstrong and Richard Fruchter, the Federation’s CEO, to renew their plea to save Medicaid funding. Cohn said the group spoke with 13 lawmakers about the proposed cuts, which could affect the Kline Galland’s residents and staff.
“Forty-three percent of our residents are on Medicaid,” Cohn said. “We’re obviously very concerned about the cuts.”
On the policy front, Carstensen said he has seen some initial success with legislation in two House bills: HB1498 would keep firearms out of the hands of people committed involuntarily; HB1926 would exempt from certification hospice centers that provide for the needs of specific religious or ethnic groups. The Kline Galland nursing home hopes to open a hospice facility, and this bill would help to push that effort forward, Cohn said.
Both survived the March 2 bill cutoff and await discussion in the full House. But policy bills have been light this year, Carstensen said, as lawmakers’ minds are on the looming deficit.
“Everything is focused on the budget, what’s going to be in it. Once we see that first budget, we’ll have a better sense of how Jewish Family Service, the Kline Galland, the National Council of Jewish Women and all the other organizations [and] synagogues that have shelters, food banks — how they’re going to be affected,” Carstensen said. “Until we see the first budget, it’s hard to know.”