MONTGOMERY —
With the click of a computer mouse, Alabama police,
firefighters and emergency workers can access more
information at faster speeds than they ever have before.
A new,
limited-access Web site called Virtual Alabama, praised at a
news conference Wednesday, combines thousands of maps,
photos and databases from throughout the state into one,
easy-to-navigate location.
Suppose a
fire breaks out at an engineering building at the University
of Alabama at Huntsville. Firefighters can use Virtual
Alabama to access floor plans for the building and find out
which classrooms are occupied at that hour.
Suppose
another tornado were to hit Enterprise. Officials could use
Virtual Alabama to access aerial photographs from before and
after the tornado to assess the damage, determine the
property tax valuation of each damaged structure and quickly
put together a disaster assistance request for the federal
government.
“Alabama is
the only state in the union that has this capability,” Gov.
Bob Riley said at the news conference, where officials
demonstrated the state-sponsored Web site.
Michael
Jones, chief technologist with Google Earth, said Riley is
not exaggerating. Jones said several states are developing
Web sites that layer lots of government information into a
quickly accessible format, but Alabama is “unique in the
United States” because its Web site includes data submitted
by every county.
Some
counties jumped at the opportunity to participate, but some
had to be shamed into participating by showing them what
their neighbors were doing, state officials said. Riley said
he realizes some people will be concerned about state
government becoming too intrusive, but he said that’s not
the goal of Virtual Alabama. “What we are doing is making
government more responsive,” he said.
The project
— called “geospatial mapping” by computer geeks — is the
result of Hurricane Katrina two years ago. State officials
had aerial photographs of how the coast looked after the
hurricane, but couldn’t quickly access photos of how it
looked before. Gov. Bob Riley told state Homeland Security
Director Jim Walker to make sure that wasn’t the case when
another hurricane hit.
What Walker
and Riley said they found was that many state and local
agencies were doing aerial maps of the state and collecting
lots of other useful information, such as the design of
public buildings and the location of every fire hydrant, but
no one was consolidating it in a useful fashion.
“Even though
we spend millions and millions of dollars every year mapping
this state, no one knew where all this information was,”
Riley said.
The state
got help on the project from the Space and Rocket Center in
Huntsville and a scientist loaned by the U.S. Army. The
state spent $150,000 on computer software, hardware and
licensing fees to Google Earth to develop the Web site that
makes information accessible to state, county and city
agencies. A password is necessary to access the information.
It varies
from county to county because local officials are loading
data into the system. Tax maps, forestry maps, utility line
maps, and other maps are being overlaid with tax records,
up-to-the minute weather data, and live cameras on public
buildings and highways.
In the
demonstration Wednesday, Walker pretended a chlorine tanker
overturned on Interstate 565 in Huntsville and started
leaking the dangerous gas. The Web site immediately used
weather data, including wind flow, to map out which parts of
the city would be in the most danger. Police could use that
to start a more effective evacuation.
“That’s
powerful information when seconds matter and lives are on
the line,” Walker said. Stan Bateman, chairman of the St.
Clair County Commission, said his county has loaded property
tax valuations, county transportation information and law
enforcement data into Virtual Alabama. Every road sign in
the county is even in the database, he said.
Margaret
Bishop, emergency management director for Sumter County,
said her county doesn’t have that much information loaded
yet, but is working toward it. “I’m sure it’s going to be
really wonderful,” she said in an interview.
The Web site
also has applications beyond public safety and emergency
management. If an industry is interested in locating a plant
in Alabama, officials can show pictures of possible
locations and build a virtual plant on each site. They can
also point out nearby neighborhoods, schools and fire
stations, Walker said.
Riley said
the Web site will be thriftier in the long run because
agencies are standardizing how they do aerial mapping and
are sharing information rather than doing mapping over and
over again for different purposes. “There is no need to fly
a county five times for five different things,” he said.
State gets extensive online
database
Nov 29, 2007
Maps, photos may be invaluable
to emergency workers
By Jason Morton – Tuscaloosa News Staff
Writer
Alabama
has rarely been accused of being on the cutting edge of
technology. Until now.
Gov. Bob Riley and the Alabama Department of Homeland
Security on Wednesday unveiled the Virtual Alabama software
program, a
limited-access Web site that combines reams of data — maps,
photos and governmental databases — from across the state
into one centralized electronic location.
“Alabama is the only state in the union that has this
capability,” Riley said at the news conference, where
officials demonstrated the state-sponsored Web site.
Michael Jones, chief technologist with Google Earth, said
several states are developing Web sites that layer lots of
government information into a quickly accessible format, but
Alabama is “unique in the United States” because its Web
site includes data submitted by every county.
“You just name it and we can load this stuff,” said Jim
Walker, director of the Alabama Department of Homeland
Security. “It’s become a very powerful tool.”
From fire and police departments responding to emergencies
to emergency management agencies assessing damage from
natural disasters, Virtual Alabama can provide city, county
and state officials with information ranging from building
layouts to fire hydrant locations with a few mouse clicks.
“If you’re a firefighter,” Walker said, “before you go into
a burning building, wouldn’t you like to know all that
stuff?”
Sgt. Andy Norris, public information officer for the
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, spearheaded the data
collection on behalf of the county.
He said that although Virtual Alabama may be used mainly to
gather information after a disaster, it also will be used in
a criminal situation, if the need arises.
“If you had an event somewhere out in the county, it gives
us the ability to look at that area from a bird’s-eye view
... [and] look at the terrain, look at the layout and at any
obstacles that we’d have to take care of before we could
respond ... in order to keep the event from getting bigger,”
Norris said. “It’s a great help in that.”
David Hartin, director of the Tuscaloosa County Emergency
Management Agency, said the program would be invaluable
should a tornado or some other disaster strike.
He also stressed the importance of the commonality of Google
Earth’s software, which grants access to the system to all
agencies that need it, as opposed to unique, individual
programs that must be licensed for every computer on which
they are installed.
“You’re looking at the ability to have multiple points of
access for planning purposes as opposed to three computers
with the specific program on it,” Hartin said. “It is
seamless.”
So, should a tornado strike an Alabama town, officials could
use Virtual Alabama to access aerial photographs before and
after the tornado to assess damage, determine the property
tax valuations of each structure and quickly put together a
disaster assistance request for the federal government.
Virtual Alabama is based on a software platform developed by
Google, the company founded in 1998 in Menlo Park, Calif.,
that has since become synonymous with Internet searching.
Walker said the state purchased the software, hardware and
license for Google Earth from the company for $150,000 and
distributed it to the state’s agencies and governments for
free.
It has taken about 15 months to compile data from all 67
counties in Alabama, a task that sometimes bumped up against
political and proprietary obstacles.
Riley said some people will be concerned about state
government becoming too intrusive, but said that is not the
goal of Virtual Alabama. A password is necessary to access
the information.
“What we are doing is making government more responsive,” he
said.
The idea for Virtual Alabama originated in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina, when state disaster officials noticed
there was good information on the aftermath of the storm,
but not much on what the coastlines looked like before the
hurricane hit.
Walker and Riley said they found that many state and local
agencies were doing aerial maps of the state and collecting
other useful information, such as the design of public
buildings and the location of every fire hydrant, but no one
was consolidating it all in a useful fashion.
The state got help from the Space and Rocket Center in
Huntsville and a scientist on loan from the U.S. Army.
As the data was compiled, state and local officials realized
the Google Earth software provided other opportunities for
data mapping.
“These are the things we looked at from a homeland security
standpoint,” Walker said, “but then we started thinking
outside the box.”
Virtual Alabama now has elements to assist city and county
governments, economic developers and planners, public works
operators, natural resource managers, environmental
agencies, agriculture departments, transportation managers
and military operations.
The system still varies from county to county because local
officials are continually loading data into the system. Tax
maps, forestry maps, utility line maps, and other maps are
being overlaid with tax records, up-to-the minute weather
data, and live cameras on public buildings and highways.
As of Wednesday, there were 1,860 users across the state
tied in to Virtual Alabama, representing 34 federal and 30
state agencies as well as 11 universities, among others.
Each agency has its own firewall that it can use to control
the level of information that is accessible. “It is an
amazing thing, and it’s going to change the way we do government
in Alabama,” Walker said. “And we’re the only state in the
country that has it.”
Material from The Associated
Press was used in this report.
Web link ties agencies together
By Jenn Rowell – Montgomery Advertiser
November 29, 2007
State government officials and emergency responders have a
new Internet-based tool available to them that will enhance
public safety.
Gov. Bob Riley and Alabama Department of Homeland Security
Director Jim Walker demonstrated the tool, dubbed Virtual
Alabama, on Wednesday along with Michael T. Jones, the chief
technology officer for Google Earth.
The tool pools huge amounts of information and makes it
accessible to state and local public safety personnel to
help in planning and emergency response.
"We're basically taking government to a different level,
taking access to a different level," Riley said.
He launched the initiative in 2005 following the natural
disasters that affected the state that year. Riley said that
when he asked for maps after the hurricanes, he discovered
that finding the information quickly was difficult. When
state officials did find the information, data from
departments weren't compatible with each other.
"We had all the information before, we just didn't have a
way to pull it all together and make it accessible," he
said.
Using an Internet platform, Virtual Alabama allows state
agencies to input information such as maps, building floor
plans, property values and historical data to enhance
planning, economic development efforts and emergency
response operations.
For example, firefighters can use floor plans to find
doorways and stairwells before entering burning buildings.
"This tool is going to save a firefighter's life in
Alabama," Walker said.
The program also enables government officials to access
before and after data in events such as the Enterprise
tornado. Walker said Virtual Alabama could be used to create
damage assessments and request federal aid more quickly
because the maps and property value information will already
be in the system.
Although its creators hail Virtual Alabama as a great
advance, Riley said he anticipates criticism calling it an
intrusive government tactic.
"This is not big brother trying to watch everything that's
going on," he said.
The information is password-protected and only Alabama
government personnel have access through Homeland Security.
Localities can restrict access to their information. All 67
counties are participating, said Chris Johnson, of the U.S.
Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. She's one of the
program developers.
Jones came to the demonstration Wednesday wearing a tie with
a map on it. He's a self-proclaimed map guy, he said before
launching into a brief history lesson.
He said in 1817, Gov. William Wyatt Bibb chose a map as the
territorial seal of Alabama, which is still used today.
Alabama is the only state to use a map as the official seal.
"It's no surprise to me that we would be in Alabama
celebrating a first in geospatial technology," Jones said.
Map to show hazard spots
November 29, 2007
KIM CHANDLER
Birmingham News staff writer
Imagine if a
firefighter could know the layout of a burning building
before entering. Or during a chemical spill, if with a few
clicks of a computer mouse, could tell exactly where the
wind would carry a toxic plume. Virtual Alabama, a new Web
site created for government agencies only, makes that
possible, Gov. Bob Riley said.
The site
combines thousands of pieces of information from across the
state - including maps, photos, traffic cameras, current
weather and other databases - into one, easy-to-use
location. It is then meshed using Google Earth technology.
Riley and state officials demonstrated the system at a news
conference Wednesday.
"Alabama is
the only state in the union that has this capability," Riley
said. The state Department of Homeland Security worked with
the Geospatial Training and Application Center at the U.S.
Space & Rocket Center and California-based Google to develop
the project, Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker
said.
The state
obtained a license from Google Earth to use its system to
combine the data into the user-friendly format. The state
has spent $150,000 on the project, Walker said. Michael
Jones, chief technologist with Google Earth, said he had
been begging other governments to join in. "It turned out I
didn't need to beg Alabama."
Riley said
the genesis for the idea came after a hurricane hit the
Alabama Gulf Coast. Aerial photographs showed how the coast
looked after the hurricane, but they couldn't quickly access
photos of how it looked before. Just looking at the rubble,
it was difficult to tell what had been hit by the storm.
Riley said
local governments and state agencies had all that
information, but it wasn't in a central place. "Even though
we spend millions and millions of dollars every year mapping
this state, no one knew where all this information was,"
Riley said.
Riley said
the quick information could be used when courting industries
or when making disaster declaration requests. Traffic
cameras and other public cameras can be linked to show
authorities what's happening at a certain location at a
given time. Riley said the only downside is that people will
argue government is becoming too intrusive.
"This is not
Big Brother trying to watch everything that goes on," Riley
said. Walker said one potential use would be during a
hazardous materials spill, to get current weather to show
which neighborhoods are in the path of the toxic plume.
Walker said
police officers could pull up maps showing where sex
offenders live or during an emergency, authorities could
tell where resources are, Walker said. Walker said the
completeness of Virtual Alabama will depend on a local
government's willingness to submit information.
At first few
counties had submitted information, and some local officials
were reluctant but Walker said when local officials saw the
potential and saw others participating they were more
motivated. Margaret Bishop, emergency management director
for Sumter County, said sometimes information is in
"someone's head" rather than in a central location. Virtual
Alabama will help overcome that, she said.
'Virtual
Alabama' a plus for state
November 29, 2007
By BOB LOWRY
Huntsville Times Staff Writer bob.lowry@htimes.com
System can aid citizens' safety and commerce
MONTGOMERY -
Using a flat-screen TV, Alabama Homeland Security Director
Jim Walker on Wednesday showed how "Virtual Alabama" would
help Huntsville firefighters if a tanker truck filled with
poisonous liquids overturns and spill its cargo on
Interstate 565.
The
computer-generated illustration quickly showed what the
current temperature was at 10:30 a.m. in Huntsville, the
wind direction, the pattern of the spread of the plume and
what housing areas would be affected first.
"This is
something that could be used very, very quickly," said
Walker. The elaborate 3-D mapping system of all 67 Alabama
counties, which includes buildings, highways and waterways,
was unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Bob Riley. The system is
formed through a combination of satellite imagery and aerial
photography.
Officials
from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and the Army Space and
Missile Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal helped create
Virtual Alabama for the Alabama Department of Homeland
Security with help from Google Earth.
In another
demonstration, Walker punched up a live view inside a
hallway of an engineering building at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville. Soon, he said, the "Virtual Alabama"
program will have the capability of continuing to capture
and collect video in case a crime was committed in the
hallway.
The program
also showed what classrooms are most heavily occupied on a
given night in the engineering building, and it can show the
layouts of the interiors of schools and other buildings to
help firefighters and law enforcement.
Another
example showed a before-and-after flyover of the Enterprise
area devastated by a tornado last spring. Virtual Alabama
can pinpoint houses through flyover photos before and after
the storm and determine their pre-storm value, based on
property records.
Riley said
he asked for a comprehensive statewide terrain-mapping
program after hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. But Riley said
what state officials found was "five or six different groups
were doing different things and no one knew where the
information was." Riley said he asked Walker to "bring it
together in an efficient format."
Walker's
agency, working with Norven Goddard, director of the
Huntsville Operations of the Future Warfare Center Lab at
the Space and Missile Defense Command, and Chris Johnson,
vice president of the Space & Rocket Center, teamed up with
Google Earth to produce Virtual Alabama.
Walker said
the software could be useful to virtually every state
agency. He said if Alabama is in contention with another
state for an industry, it could "virtually" build the plant
on a site in Alabama.
"You're the
CEO of a company and you're trying to decide which state you
want to build your plant in," said Walker. "You've got about
three choices, and Alabama is one of them.
"All these
governors are coming in to see you and laying out comparable
incentive packages. What if one comes in and says, 'Look,
not only do I want to build it for you, but I've built it
for you on the ground that you're going to occupy.'
"We've shown
you the roads in, the roads out. We've given you information
about the neighborhoods, the schools. We're going to show it
to you in a picture. Which state are you going to pick?"
Michael Jones, chief technology officer for Google Earth,
said Alabama has been the only state that has sought the
service, which cost only $150,000 for the software license,
software and hardware.
Troopers join fight against illegal aliens
Thursday, November 29, 2007
By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN
Press Register Capital Bureau
MONTGOMERY
-- Alabama is on the forefront when it comes to working with
the federal government to train state troopers to deal with
illegal immigrants, but some advocacy groups say the
practice could lead to racial profiling and distrust of
police.
In 2003,
Alabama followed Florida as the second state to initiate a
program with agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, or ICE, to combat illegal immigration.
"It seems
impossible in our minds that this couldn't involve racial
profiling," said Sam Brooke, a law fellow with the Alabama
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "They are
looking for individuals of foreign descent."
State and
federal officials told the Press-Register the program is
successful and has led to arrests and deportations. Jeff
Emerson, communications director for Gov. Bob Riley, said a
Tuesday article on stateline.org is the latest national
attention on Alabama's program and mentioned news reports in
the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and on Fox News and
CNN. He said other states have modeled their programs after
Alabama.
State
troopers do not participate in roundups or raids on
businesses, according to Martha Earnhardt, a spokeswoman for
the Alabama Department of Public Safety. She said they use
the authority to arrest illegal immigrants during regular
duties, such as traffic stops, responding to accidents and
issuing driver's licenses.
"It hasn't
taken (troopers) away from their job," she said. "It is an
additional tool to do their jobs."
Brooke said
the ACLU has not looked at any statistics to determine
whether there is racial profiling taking place in Alabama
because of the program. The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office
has not participated in the training, but Maj. Anthony
Lowery said officials are interested. "Right now, we're
looking at anything that could help," he said.
The jail in
Baldwin County had more than 40 illegal immigrants as of
Wednesday morning, according to Lowery. He said that number
is much larger than neighboring counties. The Mobile County
Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for
information about its interest in the program.
Earnhardt
and Temple Black, a spokesman for ICE, said a five-week
training program addresses civil rights, cultural
sensitivity and racial profiling and officers found to
engage in profiling are decertified immediately. When
troopers trained by ICE stop, question or arrest any
individual, they must verify the person's immigration
status, Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt
and Black pointed to multiple prohibitions on racial
profiling, including a written policy by the Alabama
Department of Public Safety and policies by the U.S.
Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security. Earnhardt said the state does not track
statistics related to the program.
A statement
from Riley's office in October 2006 said the program had
netted more than 200 arrests of illegal immigrants. Although
Emerson said he did not have updated numbers, an October
media report said the total number of arrests is about 400.
The
immigration committee of the Major Cities Chiefs
Association, a group of police executives from 50
metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada, adopted a report
last year stating that immigration enforcement by local
police would likely hurt their relationship with immigrant
communities.
"Distrust
and fear of contacting or assisting the police would develop
among legal immigrants as well," the report stated.
"Undoubtedly legal immigrants would avoid contact with the
police for fear that they themselves or undocumented family
members or friends may become subject to immigration
enforcement."
Brooke said
the immigration system is broken, but the ACLU opposes local
law enforcement enforcing immigration laws, a federal
responsibility, instead of focusing on the protection of
their own communities.
Other
organizations including the Hispanic Interest Coalition of
Alabama and the National Immigration Law Center joined
Brooke in voicing concerns about the program in the
stateline.org report, but did not return calls from the
Press-Register. Earnhardt said that ICE pays for the
training. The state has incurred about $40,000 in travel
expenses and overtime. A total of 60 state troopers have
completed the training since 2003.
U.S. court asked to oust Riley appointee
November 29, 2007
VAL WALTON
Birmingham News staff writer
A Fairfield
man asked a federal court Wednesday to remove newly
appointed Jefferson County Commissioner George F. Bowman
from office and to block Gov. Bob. Riley, who made the
appointment, from interfering with a Feb. 5 election to fill
the District 1 seat.
Fred Plump's
request for a preliminary injunction is a continuation of
his Nov. 16 lawsuit, which contends Riley lacks the
authority to name a replacement to the seat left vacant when
Larry Langford became Birmingham's mayor. Riley named
Bowman, 59, a retired two-star general, to the commission on
Nov. 21.
Plump's suit
said Riley is attempting to enforce procedures that have not
been approved by the Justice Department under the federal
Voting Rights Act. Plump's suit said the process of
appointment of a commissioner by the governor prevents
blacks in majority black jurisdictions from electing
candidates of their choice.
"We're just
trying to get things moving in the case," said Ed Still, a
Plump attorney who filed the motion in Montgomery's federal
court. The motion also seeks to keep Riley from making any
new appointment in the case until the legal issues are
settled.
Riley and
the bipartisan Jefferson County Election Commission each
claim the authority to fill the District 1 seat. Jeff
Emerson, a governor's spokesman, on Wednesday said Riley has
jurisdiction. "Under state law, the governor has the duty
to fulfill that vacancy and that is what he has done,"
Emerson said.
However, the
Election Commission set a special election because its
members maintain the law that gives the governor the power
to fill county commission vacancies by appointment
specifically excludes counties that have their own special
election rules, as does Jefferson County.
Bowman
declined to comment Wednesday. "I understand the challenge,
but it's a legal issue at this point and I will leave that
up to the court to decide," he said. State Democratic
leaders said they support Plump's actions. Alabama
Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said the case is not
about Bowman's distinguished record or character.
"It is all
about thwarting the democratic process that was already
under way with an election set for Feb. 5," Turnham said in
a statement. "Now Governor Riley has pushed the issue into
federal court, and the aftermath of these actions only
serves to rile the electorate and call into question his
true motives."
Emerson said
Riley is operating under the same law former Gov. Don
Siegelman used when he appointed the Rev. Steve Small to
replace Chris McNair, when McNair retired from the Jefferson
County Commission in 2001. "The Democratic Party didn't
complain" then, Emerson said. "It makes all the criticism
appear to be insincere." Turnham said the 2001 appointment
and the current dispute are not comparable because of
pending court issues based on the Voting Rights Act.
The current
Jefferson County case mirrors a case involving the Mobile
County Commission. In 2005, Riley appointed Juan Chastang, a
fellow Republican, to fill the vacancy created on the Mobile
County Commission when Commissioner Sam Jones, a Democrat,
was elected mayor of Mobile.
A panel of
federal judges ruled that Chastang's appointment violated
the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 because changes to
Alabama voting procedures must be cleared to guarantee they
won't hurt minority voters. Chastang was removed and a
special election was held.
Riley
appealed the Mobile case ruling, which is now before the
U.S. Supreme Court. Plump's suit asks that it be
consolidated with the Mobile County case or for a
three-judge panel to be convened to decide the issues.
Bond issue would fund
replacement of some local bridges
Nov 29, 2007
By Dana Beyerle, Florence
Times Daily Montgomery Bureau
MONTGOMERY
- Legislators will be asked in 2008 to pass a $275 million
bond issue to replace many of the county bridges that didn't
get replaced by the bridge bond issue in 2000.
The Association of County Commissions of Alabama backs a
bond issue that could make a big dent in replacing the 1,576
county bridges with low sufficiency ratings. A similar bond
issue in 2000 replaced or upgraded about half the existing
eligible county bridges. The list includes dozens of
bridges in Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale and Lawrence
counties.
"The engineers have deemed these bridges structurally
deficient and functionally obsolete," said Sonny Brasfield,
Assistant Executive Director of the Association of County
Commissions of Alabama.
The bond issue will be introduced in the legislative session
that begins in February, Brasfield said. It will be part of
a package of four bills designed to keep county roads and
bridge infrastructures from falling further behind. The
other bills include an indexed gasoline tax, local gasoline
tax options and moving the point of collection of motor fuel
taxes back one step from the distributor to the refinery, he
said.
Brasfield estimates it will cost $415 million to replace or
upgrade all 1,576 bridges. A designation of "functionally
obsolete" or "structurally deficient" does not mean a bridge
is unusable or dangerous if it's used correctly for posted
weight or width restrictions.
County engineers said they don't know yet which local
bridges qualify for replacement because they don't have
details of the proposed legislation. But they support the
concept of bridge replacement money like from the $250
million bond issue in 2000.
State Rep. Mike Curtis, D-Florence, a former county
commissioner, said the last bond issue helped transportation
and he'd like to see another one.
"A lot of bridges in our counties (are posted) for weight
limits that won't allow school buses to pass," Curtis said.
"The way fuel prices are and the way it is now, some
children have to spend too much time on buses anyway."
Colbert County has 24 bridges that don't meet the
sufficiency rating and Lauderdale County has 85.
Gov. Bob Riley's spokesman, Jeff Emerson, said Riley is
studying the proposal. State Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia,
said the issue will be how to pay the annual note on a $275
million bond issue. "I don't know if we've got that money,"
said Black.
No end to
Medicaid funding woes
Lawmakers unable to get handle on shortfall
By
Rick Harmon
– The Montgomery Advertiser
November 29,
2007
Alabama's
Medicaid system covers fewer people and provides less
services than all but three states, and it is going to get
much, much worse unless something is done quickly, U.S. Rep.
Artur Davis said.
The
Birmingham Democrat pointed out that up to 25 percent of
Alabamians, many of them children, face huge cuts in already
poor health care, a situation he considers a "crisis."
Davis, in
Montgomery to speak at a meeting of the Joint Alabama
Legislative Committee on Medicaid at the State House, said
up to 900,000 people in the state could be affected by the
state program's monetary shortfalls.
He was the
only Alabama congressman who accepted the committee's
invitation to come to Wednesday's meeting to discuss the
problems.
State Sen.
Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, chair of a Senate budget
committee, and Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, joined Davis
for a news conference before the meeting. Bedford said
"bare-bones funding" has created a potential funding
shortfall for the Medicaid program. At this point, no one
can say how large that shortfall will be, he said.
Committee
members were frustrated when Carol Steckel, commissioner of
the Alabama Medicaid Agency, could not give them an idea of
the extent of the problem. Steckel did say an earlier
estimate of $600 million might have been premature. That
estimate factored in the state's inability to get all the
matching federal funds it was due.
Several
factors have led to the shortfall, according to officials.
Bedford said the problem is looming, in part, because the
system has been propped up with one-time infusions of state
and federal money.
The state
has been using a one-time source of federal funds to help
the Medicaid system get by the past two years, but the $75
million-a-year funding runs out Sept. 30, the end of the
fiscal year. The state also is being hurt by its own
prosperity.
The
federal government uses per capita income as one measure of
determining how much funding to give states, and Alabama's
average per capita income has risen from around $29,000 to
about $31,000, Davis said.
That means
federal Medicaid funds to the state will drop, but it
doesn't mean there are less poor people needing Medicaid, he
said. Already, Alabama is allocating more than a quarter of
the general fund to the Medicaid program. Davis said it's
time for the federal government to step up.
"These
gentlemen will make their hard choices in Montgomery, but
there will also have to be some decisions made in
Washington," he said. "Washington, D.C., is trying to walk
away from Medicaid obligations at the time states are in the
most need of help."
Noting
that Alabama isn't the only state facing problems, Davis
suggested one solution could be for Alabama to partner with
other states to get federal help. The congressman stressed
that many people on Medicaid are average Alabamians. The
belief that Medicaid affects only the very poor and
unemployed is wrong.
"As you
shop at the mall, a lot of the people waiting on you will be
on Medicaid," he said. "When you go through the
drive-through on your way home, the people serving you may
be on Medicaid."
A large
number of those needing Medicaid assistance are "the working
poor," children and elderly residents, he said.
"This
wasn't caused by a governor or by a legislature," said
Davis. "It was caused by a generation of governors and
legislatures. Pointing fingers and trying to blame this on
someone is unproductive. The individuals who need our help
don't care whether it is a Democrat or a Republican who
solves this problem, just that it is solved."
Medicaid seen as critical need
Thursday, November 29, 2007
By BRIAN LYMAN
Press Register Capital Bureau
MONTGOMERY
-- Two things became clear during a joint legislative
meeting Wednesday, billed as Medicaid summit: Medicaid's
needs in the state will be a critical component for next
year's budget, and the numbers won't be known for some time.
"We have to
get past Medicaid before we start looking at our other
priorities," said state Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery,
chairman of the House Government Appropriations Committee.
"And there are many other priorities in the state."
The state's
General Fund budget, which provides appropriations for
Medicaid, begins in Knight's committee. The $4.2 billion
program is funded mainly by the federal government, but the
state provided the program $470 million in the current
budget -- over a quarter of the General Fund, and the
largest single appropriation in that budget.
The loss of
federal money to cope with the aftereffects of Hurricane
Katrina, combined with increased per capita income in the
state and other adjustments, will mean a reduction in
federal dollars, but state Medicaid Commissioner Carol
Hermann-Steckel said a number was not available.
The
commissioner said her office is looking at how inflation and
certain cost-savings programs would affect each line item in
the budget. She would not commit to a date when the numbers
would be a available, saying the agency is trying to be as
thorough as possible. The regular session of the Legislature
starts Feb. 5.
"We just
haven't been able to calculate our need in 2009," Hermann-Steckel
said after the meeting. She said during the meeting that she
would not recommend cuts in services.
Officials
with the agency said last month it expected to lose at least
$135 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2009.
Hermann-Steckel would not commit to any figure Wednesday
beyond $71 million in lost Hurricane Katrina money.
That did not
sit well with state Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, or
state Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville. “I am very
disappointed that a member of the administration
representing 25 percent of the budget can't provide us with
a number 60 days out (before the legislative session
begins)," he said.
Hermann-Steckel
noted that she had no obligation to provide the committee
with a budget number. The administration does ask state
agencies to provide preliminary budget requests at the
beginning of November to start budget planning.
Lawmakers at
the meeting, including U.S. Rep Artur Davis, D-Birmingham,
said the federal government had not taken enough steps to
make adjustments to federal funding or relieve the state the
burden of dealing with Medicaid. "Washington has been the
model of irresponsibility in this area," Davis said.
State Sen.
Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, said the debate over Medicaid
funding lost sight of some 600,000 uninsured Alabamians who
don't qualify for the program. Many of those citizens, he
said, worked low-wage jobs where "large corporations" would
not provide benefits. "They're shifting individuals into
(Hermann-Steckel's) system and we're being asked to pay for
it," he said. "And many of these corporations are not paying
state income tax."
