Co-chairman walks out of human services meeting

The course of debate Thursday over imposing an apparent leadership directive to take back $22 million from the state Department of Human Services in 2010 frayed the patience of at least on lawmaker enough that he chose to leave rather than be part of a discussion he said made him "disgusted and a little embarrassed."

"I think we've done enough damage for the evening," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, and co-chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, just before making a motion to adjourn. When the motion failed in a tie vote, Christensen walked out.

Christensen, who has made clear his dissatisfaction with lawmakers who seem to be unnecessarily rushing to impose deep, V-shaped budget cutbacks in health and human services, was visibly upset with some fellow committee members whose questioning of human services executive director Lisa-Michelle Church devolved into what could be described as badgering.

Christensen asked for and got an adjournment Monday of the same committee after a discussion morphed into a squabble over a bill that in effect would make Utah the only state to mandate the dispersal of public funding to local health departments.

The senator has said revenues are dictating difficult times for the agencies financially, and that he is all for culling possible inefficiencies and overlap of services to save money. The meetings just four days into the session are condescending rather constructive in tone, which Christensen said he believes is the opposite of helping lawmakers work find a workable bottom line.

The committee last week sent a shot over the bow of the state health department, proposing to save 15 percent in 2010 by putting back core services in the health department with human services and leaving unfunded all administrative positions except one division director — Medicaid.

Subcommittee co-chairman Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, said Thursday he "doesn't buy" the argument from agency heads that productivity enhancements necessarily mean cutbacks in services. Lawmakers are asking the agencies to dial back their budgets to 2007, noting that budgets have increased by 21 percent since then.

Rep. David Litvak, D-Salt Lake, agreed that the process isn't about the cutbacks necessarily, although he said the proposed $22 million trim in human services debated Thursday assumes that it's there to be cut in the first place.

"We weren't coming close to meeting the need back when we had money," said Litvak, who has been on health and human services committees for eight years.

"Pursuing it as aggressively as we are, we are damaging a partnership inside the agencies that has gotten us through these tough times before," he added. "It's almost like the main desire is not to work together, but to force down a philosophy, not work out a budget."

E-MAIL: jthalman@desnews.com