Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Balls and Strikes for the Last Week of Session
Baseball season opened as the 2009 General Assembly session entered its final week. Here are the legislative calls with 5 days remaining:
- Budget & Taxes: The state’s ongoing budget gap will be with us for several more seasons, as the FY 10 budget will be balanced by temporary cuts, freezes to state aid and relief pitched by federal funds. Higher education and local governments are receiving significant aid cuts. For the first time in years, it looks like new taxes may strike out. SB 1071(Sales Tax – Online Sales) and SB 603/HB 1244 (Combined Reporting) remain in committee, along with a roster of other new taxes.
- Health Care: Universal health care advocates swung for the fences with proposals to reinvent the health care system, impose significant employer payroll assessments, and circumvent ERISA protections. While those proposals are winless, solid progress has been made with singles and doubles that will improve aspects of the current health care system, including small group reform (SB 637/HB 674), expanding wellness programs (SB 638/HB 610) and small employer health insurance subsidies (HB 4). All of those proposals are rounding third and headed for home.
- Civil Liability: The 22 civil liability bills that the Chamber took positions on were put down in order. While we had favored a few short-lived tort reform bills, veteran proposals on false health claims, market share liability for lead paint and increased economic damages for wrongful death were all left stranded.
We’ll provide a final post game recap next Tuesday afternoon after the session has concluded. Contact Ron Wineholt for further information at .
Posted by Ronald W. Wineholt on 04/08 at 01:43 PM
Budget & Taxation • Civil Liability • Health Care •
Budget & Taxation • Civil Liability • Health Care •
