Today Senate Republicans, along with three Democrats, proposed a new 2012 supplemental budget.  It would close the $1 billion remaining budget problem through a familiar formula of new revenue, fund transfers, and spending reductions.  The proposal would leave reserves of $437.4 million (more than in the version that passed the House March 8, but less than the earlier House and Senate versions).

The chart below shows how the policy level spending changes compare to previous versions of the supplemental.  In total, today’s spending proposal makes fewer policy reductions than the original Senate version, but more than either House version–after adjusting the two House versions to remove the one day shift of school apportionment payments.

Some significant policy level changes in the new proposal:

• It includes the reductions that the House (3/8) made to many agencies and programs: auditor reduction, attorney general reduction, secretary of state archive reduction, central services savings, central services reforms, and PEBB funding rate reduction. (See this post for more information on these changes.)
• The housing and essential needs program would be eliminated as of April 1, 2012 for the rest of the biennium.
• Disability Lifeline medical would be eliminated June 2012.
• The Indigent Assistance Disproportionate Share Hospital program would be discontinued for the rest of the biennium.
• A structured community supervision violation process would be implemented.
• Initiative 1163 would be funded.
• The state food assistance program would be eliminated July 1, 2012.
• Underexpenditures in the temporary assistance for needy families and working connections child care programs would be realized, and there would be a reduction in the grant and a 48 month time limit imposed.
• It would implement a statewide teacher and principal evaluation system.
• It would allow up to ten charter schools.

The new proposal would also make several structural reforms:

• Require four-year balanced budgeting
• Eliminate Initiatives 728 and 732
• Eliminate subsidized early retirement benefits for new members (and the proposal would suspend employer Plan 1 unfunded liability payments for FY 2013)
• Limit capital budget debt
• Consolidate school employee health benefits purchasing

We have previously written about some of these reforms — see here and here.