GOP leaders suggest special session may be necessary

Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey said at a weekly GOP news conference that the settlement uses money that until Tuesday he was unaware the state had, and is contingent upon outcomes of federal court cases that may not be known before the Legislature finishes its session. Lawmakers had been aiming for adjournment sometime in May.

“Both of those things make me uncomfortable,” he said. “I think a special session may be the best thing, though I’m sure the governor would like to convince us otherwise.”

Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said the governor would work with leaders of both parties to gain consensus on the budget.

“We will continue to talk to Senator Ramsey and other legislative leaders about our options for passing a responsible, balance budget,” Lenker said.

Bredesen briefed both Democrat and Republican leaders of the General Assembly earlier this week before announcing he had reached an agreement with lawyers representing TennCare enrollees on a plan to spare about 100,000 adults from having their coverage pulled.

Neither Ramsey or House Minority Leader Tre Hargett appeared with Bredesen at the announcement.

Both said Thursday that their absence was not a political message. Ramsey and Hargett said they had legislative work to do at the time of the announcement.

“We’re focused on policy, not politics,” Hargett said. “From here, (state elections in) 2006 are a long way off.”

Before his announcement, the governor had backed a plan to cut 323,000 adults from TennCare rolls in order to avoid $575 million in cuts to other government services.

The proposed settlement would require the approval of two federal judges and officials with federal Medicaid, which provides two-thirds of the financing for TennCare, an $8 billion program that provides health care coverage for 1.3 million poor, disabled and uninsured enrollees. Lawmakers also must approve portions of the deal.

One of those judges on Thursday ruled the state’s methods for removing people from TennCare rolls were inadequate and each enrollee to be cut must be granted an appeal hearing. Michael Kirk, a lawyer for the state, told Judge William J. Haynes the cost of that option could jeopardize the settlement reached Tuesday.

And it requires roughly $100 million more in spending than had been anticipated in Bredesen’s proposed budget for next year.

In a related development Thursday, the State Funding Board approved revenue forecasts that show the state taking in $96 million to $121 million more than anticipated.

Commissioner of Finance and Administration Dave Goetz said because state budgets have been conservative there is flexibility to pay for items like the TennCare settlement if revenues are better than forecast.

Hargett was skeptical about the revenue report that first surfaced Tuesday, coinciding with the settlement announcement.

“I hope the Democrats are as surprised like we are that all of a sudden money was dropping like manna from heaven,” Hargett said.

When Goetz later heard of Hargett’s remark, he said, “Do I detect a note of sarcasm?”