Legislative leaders focus on block grants.

• Author: Rhyme, Nancy
• Position: Federal block grants

The top legislative priority for 1996? Block grants. With Congress rewriting the rules more dramatically than at any time since the New Deal, it's no wonder that the enormity of change has an urgency that usurps the predictable state concerns -- budgets, health care and education. NCSL's November annual survey of leaders indicates that most of the 23 states responding will be spending their energy this session defining and adjusting to the changes block grants will bring.

Balancing budgets and redesigning welfare programs. health care, work force training and other programs inextricably linked to the new federalism. But in mid-December, as state sessions were about to start, Congress and the president had yet to agree on a budget or to put the final touches on converting many current categorical and entitlement programs into block grants. States were waiting in the wings, Michigan notwithstanding (it redesigned welfare last summer). And although leaders expressed some anxiety about the decisions Congress will make, they seemed eager to distribute entitlements in a way that is best suited to their individual state.

Colorado Senate President Tom Norton echoed the sentiments of many in stating that his two major worries are "that the federal government will not allow the freedom to set true state priorities in programs, and that the budget will not be completed in time at the federal level" to allow states with short sessions to write their own budgets.

Maryland, like a number of states, stands to lose some $200 million to $300 million in federal Medicaid funds over the next seven years and is waiting to see if the welfare reform enacted in 1995 will be in compliance with federal guidelines. "We are concerned with the prospect of increased obligations with less, not more, control over the program," says Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. And, Ohio House Speaker JoAnn Davidson said her legislature will also be "working to reconcile our recently enacted welfare reforms with any federal changes that are enacted."

Arkansas Speaker Bobby Hogue hopes that the new block grants will be "accompanied by fewer restrictions on the ability of states to administer Medicaid and welfare programs."

"If we're going to be made more accountable for the delivery of these programs, we must have the ability to administer them effectively and in a manner best suited to Arkansas. If Congress wants to change the nature of federalism, the states must be given...