| House to hear emergency appropriations bill 04/04/2001 Associated Press AUSTIN – An emergency appropriations bill that would cover $708 million in cost overruns in the prison and Medicaid programs is expected to gain approval in the House.
The overruns were the result of incorrect projections made two years ago about the prison population and enrollment in Medicaid, a federally mandated program the state must pay for.
Because the state constitution requires a balanced budget, the bill was expected to pass when it goes before the House on Wednesday.
Most of the money in the supplemental bill comes from agencies that did not spend all their 2001-2002 appropriated funds. The rest will come from the state's new surplus.
The emergency spending includes $585 million for Medicaid, of which $110 million would be a transfer of money already allotted to the Texas Department of Health.
A total of $110 million would go to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the prison system and $13 million would be spent on the state Office of Risk Management for unexpected workers' compensation claims.
Among the money to be used is $35 million that the Texas Education Agency did not spend for pre-kindergarten programs two years ago.
Other money came from the Employee Retirement System, the comptroller's office and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
House Appropriations Chairman Rob Junell has said those agencies would not be punished in the budget being drafted for the next biennium because lawmakers planned to replace the money they took with new general revenue.
The round about way of filling the holes is because the state constitution requires lawmakers to stay within certain spending limits during a budget cycle.
The emergency appropriations bill comes when lawmakers are trying to squeeze every available dollar out of the 2002-2003 proposed budget.
Unexpected increases in health care costs in several state programs have eaten away at any expected surplus this session, when legislators are faced with trying to fund several high-profile, big-dollar items.
Those include statewide school employees health insurance plan that could cost as much as $6 billion a biennium. Making it easier for children to enroll in Medicaid, a $400 million proposal, and funding state employee pay raises, which could cost more than $500 million, are other issues on the table.
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