Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he intends to use federal COVID-19 relief money to fill the gaps in funding left by his vetoes to the Fiscal Year 2021 budget.<\/p>\n
Dunleavy signed the budget into law Monday, after vetoing a total of $210 million from the bill sent to him by the Legislature, according to the governor’s office. The Legislature’s budget was $314 million above the governor’s proposed budget sent to lawmakers in December.<\/p>\n
At a Tuesday press conference, Dunleavy said he didn’t want to spend state money when funds are expected from the federal government.<\/p>\n
“You’ll see a lot of these vetoes is (unrestricted general fund) money, a lot of that is going to be replaced with federal money,” Dunleavy said. “There’s a lot of things we can’t afford at this time, but we will be using some of that COVID money for state services.”<\/p>\n
The “vast majority” of the vetoes would be covered by CARES Act money, according to Dunleavy, but there were some small reductions that would not be covered, he said, without citing any specific programs.<\/p>\n
Dunleavy vetoed $31 million<\/a> from state Medicaid payments, saying that federal dollars would reimburse the state. Medicaid money was cut from last year’s budget as well, but the governor’s administration was forced to add that money back in the supplemental <\/a>budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor vetoed<\/a> more than $400 million from last year’s budget, which he said was part of an effort to start a robust conversation about state spending. Those cuts kicked off a major political battle with the Legislature and multiple attempts to override the vetoes. Much of the funding was eventually restored.<\/p>\n