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Future funding hinges on Sept. 18 vote
Editor’s note: On Sept. 18, Alabama voters will be asked to approve a statewide constitutional amendment to authorize transferring money from the Alabama Trust Fund to the state’s general fund to help cover deficits in the Alabama Medicaid and corrections departments. On this page, Alabama Living presents two different perspectives on the proposal. We urge our readers to become educated on this issue before voting.
Vote Yes to save jobs, protect essential services By Rep. Greg Wren
On Sept. 18 voters will decide whether to provide funding from the Alabama Trust Fund to the state General Fund to save dozens of essential state government services, including the Alabama Medicaid Program. Medicaid provides health care to one million of Alabama’s aged, blind, disabled and low-income citizens. The proposed Constitutional Amendment will transfer $146 million each year for three fiscal years to protect funding for our State Troopers, Conservation and Agriculture departments, Mental Health and Public Health facilities, children and adult rehabilitation services and dozens of key services in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. Alabama’s health care services industries represent approximately 15% of our state’s gross domestic product, and employ hundreds of thousands of taxpayers serving every town, city and county. Without question, essential health care access will be curtailed beginning Oct. 1, 2012 if the Constitutional Amendment fails. There is no alternative to protecting massive reductions and elimination of many health care and public services. 10 SEPTEMBER 2012
Since 2010, Gov. Robert Bentley and the Legislature have enacted the most significant cost savings programs in Alabama’s history. AREA members understand our prolonged recession has devastated our citizen’s jobs and paychecks, yet the state’s leadership is focused on building our economy through a more efficient state government. Unfortunately, our state’s budgets have incurred more than $1 billion in losses over the last three years and the proposed Constitutional Amendment asks voters to keep Alabama working while we move through the most challenging economic period in decades. A “Yes” vote on Sept. 18 provides your state government leadership a slim ray of sunshine in our most difficult financial times. Our stewardship of taxpayer funds is our top priority. Your support is critical to save Alabama jobs and protect essential services to each of Alabama’s 4.7 million citizens. A Rep. Greg Wren represents portions of Montgomery and Elmore counties in the Alabama House of Repres e ntatives . He i s chairman of the Joint Energy Committee and Joint Medicaid Committee.
Transfer of funds won’t solve inefficiencies By Gary Palmer and Cameron Smith The Alabama Policy Institute
On Sept. 18 Alabamians will vote on a constitutional amendment that will have a major impact on the Alabama Trust Fund (ATF). If approved, this amendment would alter the current distribution of the earnings from the ATF, including redirecting 33 percent of the Oil and Gas Capital Payments out of the ATF as income to be spent by state and local government, leaving only 32 percent going into the corpus. Currently, 65 percent of the Oil and Gas Capital Payments go into the ATF corpus. The most controversial provision of the proposed amendment requires the transfer of $437,390,829 out of the ATF corpus to the State General Fund with no provision to pay it back. Withdrawals from the ATF will amount to $145,796,943 per year in fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014. Transferring $437.4 million to the State General Fund over the next three years may temporarily cover a budget hole, but does little to solve the underlying inefficiencies, lack of substantial
growth taxes in the State General Fund, and last-minute budgeting that led to its need in the first place. Alabama state government is in desperate need of reform and restructuring to make it more effective and more affordable. Instead of taking $437.4 out of ATF with no provision to pay it back, Alabama lawmakers and Gov. Bentley should have enacted cost-cutting and right-sizing measures that would have substantially reduced the need for raiding the ATF. If the proposed constitutional amendment is approved, it is likely that instead of needed reforms in state government, poor budgetary decisions will continue. A Gary Palmer is president and Cameron Smith is policy director and legal counsel for the Alabama Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families.
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