SEIU Nevada Members and Community Leaders Oppose State Budget Cuts
Nevada is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $440 million. At SEIU Nevada’s Executive Board meeting on December 12, members unanimously approved a resolution opposing the Governor’s proposed across-the-board budget cuts. The resolution called for the state to adopt several short-term solutions to the budget crunch already proposed by state leaders including Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley such as using funds from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and delaying unnecessary capital projects. SEIU Nevada’s resolution supported finding a long-term, comprehensive solution to both the current state budget crisis and chronic, historic underfunding of state and local services.
Read the whole resolution here! SEIU Nevada Members Take Action!
Photo from the Las Vegas Review Journal, by Clint Karlsen.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal . . .
Gov. Jim Gibbons' budget-cutting knife was sharply criticized by about 50 children's advocates, activists and mental health and education professionals during a planned protest in front of University Medical Center on Monday...
Carrying signs and umbrellas, attendees called for Gibbons to rethink his proposed 4.5 percent across-the-board budget cuts in favor of dipping into the state's rainy-day fund...
[SEIU Nevada member] Patrick Schreiber, a supervisor at Child Haven, the shelter for abused and neglected children, said cuts across the board pit public services against each other.
"There needs to be a better solution,'' he said.
On December 18, SEIU Nevada members again joined other community leaders to testify in opposition to cuts to vital public services at an Interim Legislative Committee on Health Care.
Michelle Estrada
RN and Executive Board Member
Nevada should be spending more, not less, on health care for our most vulnerable residents. It is patients and healthcare professionals who will bear the burden of overcrowded emergency rooms when the funding for health coverage programs is no longer available.
St. Rose RN and Executive Board Member Michelle Estrada joined Pat Schreiber to tell the committee about the negative impact budget cuts will have on SEIU Nevada members' ability to deliver quality health care and public services. They also called for a comprehensive solution to better funding Nevada's public services.
What could budget cuts mean for Nevada?These forced budget cuts will strike a disastrous blow to the safety of children and families in Nevada. Every state and local agency receiving state funds will be impacted. This includes:
Clark County Department of Family Services (DFS)DFS is already dangerously underfunded and understaffed. The state had been mandated by the federal government to add desperately needed new staff to help lower caseloads for child welfare caseworkers. But even these new staff would only bring the caseload down to 1 caseworker to 28 children – still much higher than the recommended 22 children. With budget cuts, all efforts to improve the child welfare system, including trainings on new practices and policies, will not be implemented because staff will not have time. If DFS doesn’t implement these improvements, the agency faces strict penalties and fines from the federal government.
The Governor has promised to protect child welfare services, but won't release a list of the programs he will cut - which could include important support services vulnerable children rely on. This could be a disaster for child welfare improvement in Clark County!
Nevada Medicaid Nevada already spends less on our Medicaid enrollees than most other states. A 4.5% cut for this program means fewer low-income children and families will be able to enroll in the program – leaving those families uninsured.
University Medical Center (UMC)UMC cares for many of Clark County’s Medicaid and uninsured patients. UMC treats all patients whether they can pay for it or not. Medicaid cuts mean UMC will have to care for more patients with a limited ability to pay their medical bills. UMC and Clark County will be responsible for an even greater share of costs, with even less money from the state and federal governments. This burden will hurt UMC’s ability to play its vital role providing health care to our most vulnerable residents.
Fewer Federal DollarsThe federal government helps fund Nevada’s state and local government programs. But that federal funding level depends on how much the state and local governments spend. If Governor Gibbons cuts our budgets by 4.5%, he is also cutting the money state and local government programs receive from the federal government.
Why wasn’t this prevented? For decades, Nevada has been one of the fastest growing states in the nation. And yet, our elected officials have never had a plan to pay for the vital community services Nevada residents need. Now, low-income families, the elderly and at-risk children will pay the price.
Nevada doesn’t have to cut its budgets! Nevada has options other than budget cuts to make up for low tax revenue. Governor Gibbons can declare an economic emergency so we can tap the state's Rainy Day Fund while we find a comprehensive, long-term solution to the problem. That's what it's there for! What can you do?Click here to send Governor Gibbons an email asking him to stand up for quality public services for Nevada!
You will need to enter your contact information, then you can cut and paste the following email into the message box!
Dear Governor Gibbons:
I am writing to ask you NOT to cut Nevada’s budget!
Nevada’s public programs already do not receive the funds they need. SEIU Nevada members provide vital public services to our community in Clark County, but many local agencies and departments are stretched to the breaking point.
Cutting state and local budgets could severely impact access to critical services and care.
Cutting state funding means we will receive less money from the federal government. That’s a one-two punch to Nevada’s critical public programs!
Your proposed funding cuts will be a disastrous blow to the safety of children and working families in Nevada.
Before we start cutting funds from vital community services and programs, we should explore all our other options, including the Rainy Day Fund.
Governor Gibbons, don’t cut our budget! Nevada needs a real solution for funding public services
Signed, A Concerned Nevada Voter