DeLaney amendment seeks to prevent future budget errors

Today, Feb. 15, State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) offered an amendment to Senate Bill 221 that would require the annual internal audits of state agencies to include an audit of budget forecasting errors. A few months ago, the Family and Social Services Administration announced that the amount of funding for Medicaid in the 2023 state budget was $1 billion short due to an “accounting error.” To compensate for this massive miscalculation, FSSA proposed cuts to essential programs, including support for families caring for severely disabled children. The details of how the $1 billion error occurred have not been disclosed. The amendment was defeated 27-54 mainly along party lines.

“The Holcomb administration made a $1 billion mistake in estimating the cost of Medicaid,” DeLaney said. “Their response to this mistake was to cut funding for Hoosier children with severe disabilities. It is the responsibility of this body to first stop the defunding of essential services to our most vulnerable Hoosiers, then figure out what happened to cause the state's error. 

“We owe it to the taxpayers to make this administration explain how on earth a mistake of this magnitude occurred in the first place. Getting to the bottom of this is the only way to prevent citizens from being punished in the future for government blunders.”