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Lawmakers Trim Alzheimer's Center Budget, Boost KidCare

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI and JEROME STOCKFISCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - House and Senate lawmakers yielded on Friday to one another's demands to support seniors and poor children by sparing an Alzheimer's center from heavy budget cuts and expanding the KidCare health insurance program.

House members had proposed halving the state's annual $15 million appropriation for the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute in Tampa, but agreed to the Senate proposal to cut just $1.5 million.

'I'm much better with a $1.5 million reduction than the $7.5 million we talked about earlier,' said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. 'The Byrd center is a valuable asset to the Bay area, but I also understand the predicament we're in.

'It came to a question of how do we best not cut direct services to people who are literally utilizing our health care system?'

Byrd spokeswoman Melanie Meyer said the cut will delay the center's completion of its lab space and will probably delay the hiring of one senior scientist. But the reduction is small enough, she said, to allow the center to forge ahead with recruiting its next research team.

'We are in negotiations now with a very prominent scientist,' she said. 'I know he'll be relieved to see this.'

The cut is permanent, although additional changes may be on the horizon. House Healthcare Council chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said he intends to bring back a plan in the spring that would redirect some or all of the Byrd dollars into a competitive grant program for biomedical researchers across the state.

Center Keeps Its Name

The Byrd center also held on to its name Friday. Resurrecting failed legislation from previous years, Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West, proposed renaming the center after the late President Reagan, who died of Alzheimer's. The center's current name honors the late father of former Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, who remains a controversial figure in Tallahassee from his heavy-handed style while he was in office. Some lawmakers have said the continued connection to the younger Byrd jeopardizes the center's funding every year.

'I'd like to see zero cut from the center,' said Saunders, saying he offered the amendment as a safeguard for the facility. 'Every year I see controversy on the funding of this.'

But as Rep. Richard Glorioso, R-Plant City, noted in debate, lawmakers attempted to rename the center after Reagan in 2005, only to receive a letter from his widow, Nancy, asking that they not use her husband's name. Saunders' proposal failed Friday on a vote of 67-36.

$1.1 Million More For Kids

The Senate on Friday adopted the House's addition of $1.1 million new dollars for KidCare, the state's health insurance program for low-income children who do not qualify for Medicaid.

The money will open 5,000 new slots in the program, which was in danger of reaching capacity early next year. The program, which limped along for years with low enrollment, has seen dramatic rises in applications since lawmakers gave it more money to reach out to families. The program included 224,175 non-Medicaid children in July, up from 196,674 a year earlier.

'We're very excited,' said Bean. 'It's great for kids and great for Florida.'

Bean said the new funding sets the stage for streamlining and expanding KidCare in the spring. House members approved such reforms last spring but could not persuade the Senate to vote on the bill. That surprise defeat triggered talk early in the summer about revisiting the bill during the current special session. Bean and Galvano said they intend to bring it back in the spring.

Reporters Catherine Dolinski and Jerome Stockfisch can be reached at cdolinski@tampatrib.com, jstockfisch@tampatrib.com or (850) 222-8382.

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