The General Government Operations appropriation will receive a 6% increase to fund various initiatives: $500,000 will be used to implement an improved single licensing system for insurance agents and brokers; $152,000 is provided to increase department efficiency by providing automated technology equipment to access regulatory and financial databases; and $193,000 will be used to replace office furnishings to accommodate automated technology equipment. This is the second year of a three year replacement plan. It should also be noted that the Budget Office has recommended that five GGO positions should be eliminated.

     The budget is inadequate in its efforts to address the shortfall in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP provides services to approximately 51,000 children annually. This budget increases the number of children served in 1997-98 by 3,000 for a total of 54,000; funded by increasing the cigarette tax revenue dedicated to CHIP from two cents per pack to three cents per pack which will produce an additional $10.8 million in revenue.

     It should be noted that in 1997-98, a total of 113,143 children would be eligible for the program, according to the Administration's own estimates. An additional $30 million would be needed to fund services for these children.

     Beginning in October 1996, 17 year olds became eligible for the program. The Administration has now stopped estimating the number of eligible children since they cap the number that are served. However, according to a report released in May 1996 entitled Uninsured Children in Pennsylvania it is estimated that of the 331,000 uninsured children in Pennsylvania, 56,663 or 17.1% are eligible for the no-cost component of CHIP and an additional 16,806 or 5% are eligible for the reduced-cost component of the program. These numbers do not reflect the 17 year olds who became eligible last October.