Hoeven: More Work Needs to be Done on Human Services Budget

Hoeven: More Work Needs To Be Done On Human Services Budget

Gov. John Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to SB2012, the Department of Human Services finance bill:

"The Department of Human Services (DHS) budget as it came out of the Senate, with a reduction of $16 million in general fund dollars, and a reduction of about $40 million including federal matching funds, is unacceptable. We just received the House amendments to the Senate bill today.

"The House took a step in the right direction by drafting amendments that would provide an additional $8 million for services to the developmentally disabled, nursing homes and a partial restoration of the funding for SPED. Still, there are clearly areas, such as home and community based services, where more work needs to be done before this bill is acceptable.
"First, we need to restore funding for prescription drugs. We know that the drugs we provide under Medicaid are cost effective. In many instances, they save us from spending even more dollars on medical procedures and care.

"Second, we need to adequately fund program services, like children and family services, medical services and services for the aged. These, and other programs, serve our most vulnerable citizens, and they must be funded at level equal to the need."

"Third, we simply can not provide adequate services to our citizens with developmental disabilities at Grafton, nor to our patients at the State Hospital at Jamestown with the cuts that were made to those budgets.

The cuts made in administration and technology threaten our ability to be in full compliance with our federal programs, to pay providers and to properly communicate with our county social service agencies, which provide the local administration of these programs.

"We are committed to working with both the House and Senate to find ways to reinstate the funding necessary, but more funding needs to be provided before we can support this bill."