DENVER – Lawmakers announced Thursday that they have reached a deal that would spare hospitals from losing millions of dollars or potentially, in some rural areas, shutting down.
The only question is, will there be time to move it through the Legislature before the session ends on Wednesday?
Senate Bill 267, which contains a number of provisions geared at promoting and sustaining rural areas of the state including reclassifying the Hospital Provider Fee, has gotten the much needed backing of Democrats and Republicans after a deal was struck late Wednesday.
While the bill contains a veritable clown car of measures – such as bonding for $2 billion for transportation and other construction projects, raising the total sales tax on retail marijuana to 15 percent to fund a small business tax credit and giving rural schools $30 million over the next three years – the most important portions address health care.
By reclassifying the provider fee, which is a charge on hospitals that is collected by the state and matched by the federal government and then redistributed to hospitals, the bill would avoid a $264 million loss in federal matching funds for health care providers across the state.
In Southwest Colorado, the reduction would cut more than $4 million total – Animas Surgical Hospital, $598,904; Mercy Regional Medical Center, $1,587,002; and Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez $2,251,398.
The amount collected by the fee was cut to balance the state’s $28.3 billion budget and stay below the revenue limit allowed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. By reclassifying it as an enterprise, the funds the fee generates would no longer count toward the TABOR limit and would free the state to collect additional revenue in the future to fund departments such as K-12 education and transportation.
But to reach the deal on SB 267 the two parties had to compromise on lowering the TABOR limit.
Democrats have pushed for the limit to stay where it is to maximize the amount of revenue that would be freed up, while Republicans have insisted it must be lowered by varying amounts to avoid essentially skirting TABOR regulations.
For the final deal, lawmakers agreed upon a $200 million reduction in the limit, said House Majority Leader KC Becker. That would free the state to collect about $350 million extra annually to close funding gaps in transportation and education.
Lowering the cap was the hardest step for both parties as neither got the amount it wanted.
“Only taking ($200 million) was a hard part, but we understood that we have to work with both sides in order to find an agreement,” Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, said Thursday.
“There’s a shared pain and shared benefit, each of us gave a little… and each of us benefit,” KC Becker said.
One substantial loss for Democrats is an increase in copays for Medicaid recipients that would double for prescription medications and outpatient services.
“That was a hard one for us, it’s not something we would have brought as a policy that we wanted to do ourselves,” KC Becker said.
The doubling would amount to an increase from $1 to $2 for generic medications and $3 to $6 for brand names for individuals on Medicaid.
The next step is moving the bill through the Senate Appropriations Committee, where Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and committee chairman, said he had intended to not schedule a hearing.
Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, said that was his right as the head of appropriations, but members of the committee invoked a rule that forces his hand.
“If a majority of members of the committee provide him with a letter asking him to bring it up, he will bring it up,” Sonnenberg said.
Such a letter was delivered Thursday, and Lundberg has agreed to hear the bill Friday morning, Sonnenberg said.
Lundberg said he intended to deny a hearing for SB 267 on the basis that it does not meet constitutional muster based on his reading of the state Constitution but would move it onto Friday’s calendar upon request of the committee majority.
“The rules are the rules,” he said.
If SB 267 clears appropriations, it must go through second and third readings in the Senate, which must be on different days, before it can move to the House where it needs at least two days to move through the chamber.
In a best case scenario, with no more curve balls thrown by legislators, the bill could be introduced in the House on Monday after a final vote by the Senate, where it is expected to pass, and approved by the House on Tuesday, a full 24 hours before the session wraps up.
lperkins@durangoherald.com
