Frankfort Haiku

Medicaid big hole,
Frankfort talk and talk and talk;
In end, nothing change.

The 2011 General Assembly ended with parliamentary jujitsu, as the House pulled a fast one on the Senate by approving the Senate budget (thus eliminating the need for conference) and sending it on to the Gov, where he can line-item-veto everything he doesn't like with no fear that the House will vote to override. Where does that leave us? Right where we started.

We have a big Medicaid deficit. The Gov proposed borrowing from next year's budget, with "promises" to pay the money back through cost-savings. (If you can achieve that much in cost savings, why not do it now?) David Williams, never one to let a crisis go to waste if he can use it to score political points, led the Senate to cut everything in sight in response. (David keeps a copy of Shock Doctrine on his bed-side stand.)

Now, with this latest maneuver, the Gov gets to borrow his money, veto the spending cuts, and promise to pay them back later. Williams gets to say he tried, the House gets to say they saved the day, and everyone gets to go home. And we, dear citizens, get stuck with a budget crisis that's just delayed, not actually dealt with.

Kicking the Can Down the Road

The Gov announced yesterday that he wants the Leg to move $166 million from next year's Medicaid budget to this year's, so the state can get more money in Federal matching funds this year. And as much as David Williams wants to use this to score political points, the bill is a good idea and should pass. Why would we want to take 70% matching funds when we can get 80%?

Here's the larger problem, though --

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Wayne's Bill == YES; Farmer's Bill == AYKM?!?

(Hat tip to Page One, that had the story and the PDF)

Two tax-reform bills were presented in Frankfort last week. The bill by Jim Wayne improves some of the inequity in our current tax system, AND improves the revenue picture. It gets a big YES from me, and should get a Yes from anyone who cares about both fiscal responsibility and an equitable tax system.

The bill by Bill Farmer, OTOH, deserves only this response: Are You Kidding Me?!?

Make the jump to see why ...

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KY Budget Shortfall -- Some Research

After reading a story over at Page One about the upcoming special session and the $1 billion shortfall, I decided to do some research. Make the jump to see what I found (with charts, real numbers, and a few not-yet-real numbers) --

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Transparency in The Ville: Only a Fan Dance?

There's been a lot of talk lately about transparency in The Ville, especially in Metro government. Whether the calls are genuine, or just a way of scoring political points, I can't say for sure. What I can say is that while most people agree that transparency is a good thing. the Louisville version of it reminds me of Sally Rand: lots of stuff flying around, an occasional glimpse of what looks like real information, but in the end, only a big tease.

Let's take, for example, the current budget crisis --

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