The Joint Budget Committee denied the Department of Corrections' prison caseload supplemental (4-2), approved DOC medical and local jail payments at only 50%, and approved a scaled-down DHS competency/IDD supplemental with set-asides for capital components — all while battling a structural general fund deficit that shaped every decision of the day.
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Amabile, Brown, and the 4-vote majority argued denial would compel the administration to present a plan before more beds are funded, with Brown stating every corrections dollar is 'at least $2, maybe $10' that could go to Medicaid. Kirkmeyer countered 'the issue's not going away just because you don't want to fund it' and warned denial would shift costs to local jails and create staff safety risks. Taggart echoed concerns about local jail strain. The denial motion passed 4-2 with Kirkmeyer and Taggart objecting.
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“Nothing's going to change unless we make something change. And that's why we're pushing back today, because I was here on this committee last year, and we did ask and we did try to push back, and we got nowhere. I have run bills that I've been told aren't going to see the light of day because the Governor won't sign them.”
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Sign in to subscribeJoint Budget Committee will come to order. We are continuing with our consideration of supplementals. The first on the agenda for the day is the Department of corrections with Mr. Bracke. Please tell us what you've got for us. All right, thank you, Madam Chair. JUSTIN Bracke Joint Budget Committee STAFF I think we'll start on the table of contents on the first page here. We do have nine decision items to deal with, which is relatively a lot for supplemental. With your permission, I'll probably start on S4 and S5, which deal with compensation and contract services and stuff like that, which can give you a sense of the picture of what total compensation in the department looks like. We're not voting. Just started. I saw you come in, so we started. So I'd like to start with S4 and S5 because it gives you a picture of some of the issues with vacancies and might put some other things in perspective. I've also included an appendix B here that shows inflation adjusted change in the DOC's general fund budget in almost every line item. So that can help folks understand where the budget may or may not have…
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