JACKSON - Few Mississippi lawmakers left the 2002 session Friday pleased with their accomplishments.
Left behind were possible gubernatorial vetoes that would force them to return in a week and a woefully underfunded Medicaid program that could create political damage back home.
What to do about Medicaid drove the debate over the $3.56 billion budget. The result was a $120 million shortfall in Medicaid and directives from lawmakers that optional programs be cut to stay within the budget. Medicaid officials responded that some nursing home recipients could lose their coverage.
Lawmakers accused Medicaid officials of "scare tactics." Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Medicaid director Rica Lewis Payton said the program cuts are a very real possibility.
House Speaker Tim Ford, D-Baldwyn, and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck said they don't think any nursing home residents will be evicted, despite what Musgrove and Payton are saying.
"This stuff about scaring old people is a bunch of baloney," Ford said. "I mean, I can't believe that's going on."
Tuck agreed: "It's unforgivable, the scare tactics that are being used."
Lawmakers by midweek should know Musgrove's decision on the vetoes.
"I think that ultimately what we are going to have to decide what kind of (Medicaid) program we can afford and design a program to fit our pocketbooks and not the pocketbook to fit the program," said Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo.
Musgrove said Medicaid would stay within the allotted money from the Legislature.
"There is only one entity responsible for appropriating the money and that's the Legislature," Musgrove said when asked about the potential political fallout. "So the fact that the Legislature underfunded Medicaid by $120 million is clearly their responsibility and their action. Up to this point in time, we have made every suggestion, looked at different options but we have no ability to appropriate money."
Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, said lawmakers should be prepared to go home and confess to constituents that leaving Medicaid underfunded was their doing and they should accept the criticism that comes.
Senate President Pro Tempore Travis Little, D-Corinth, said it was premature of Payton to talk about putting people out of nursing homes.
"We have never put anybody out of a nursing home in this state," he said.
Little said the new fiscal year hadn't started and new program savings haven't taken effect.
"Putting people out of nursing homes is way down the list. It's a shame vulnerable people would be put in this shape," Little said.
Musgrove said the bulk of Medicaid money is spent on nursing homes and prescription drugs, so that's where Payton probably would have to make cuts.
"If she wiped out every bit of the eyeglasses, if she wiped out every bit of the chiropractors, if she wiped out every bit of the other, that would make up only a fraction of the shortfall. So, it, of necessity, gets to the nursing homes," Musgrove said.
Slow tax collections prompted legislative leaders to scour special fund agencies and programs for money to plug gaps in the budget, especially for the universities, junior colleges and public schools.
"This is the most difficult session to deal with in my 20 years and certainly in my 15 years as speaker," Ford said.
He said when money is as tight as it was this year, "there's just a gloom hanging over everything. You have to say no to everybody."
Tuck said she was pleased with what lawmakers could do for education considering the economy.
Others agreed.
"I thought we did as best we could with the revenues and addressed the needs," said Rep, George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "We did the best we could on Medicaid. I know it's not finished but we'll be able to work with it in the next session."
Sen. Terry Burton, D-Newton, chairman of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, said teachers got the third year of a promised pay raise and money was found for salary increases for state employees and university and junior college faculties.
"I don't think anybody will not receive an education. I don't think anybody will not receive absolute necessary services as a result of anything the Legislature has done this year. It was one of those situations where we've come through in the pinch and done the best we can for the people of the state," Burton said.
Nunnelee said the 2002 session was, if anything, typical.
"Just like every year, there are issue left undone. That's part of the process," he said. "This was a rough session. I'm glad it's over."
Efforts to put limits on jury awards in damage cases bowed out of the session early despite heavy lobbying by medical groups and business. They and trial lawyers used media campaigns to bring the public around to their sides.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bennie Turner, D-West Point, said with both groups at such loggerheads, no compromise was possible. Turner said he expected tort reform to become a heated campaign issue in the 2003 statewide election.
Mississippi voters will be presented with two constitutional amendments in November.
One would restructure the state College Board and reduce terms from 12 years to nine years. Another proposal would increase the terms of chancery and circuit judges from four years to six years.
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