Senate staff outlines key HHR budget changes including $3.2B general fund increase and Medicaid forecast

Mike Tweedy, associate director for budget operations with the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, gave the commission a high‑level walk‑through of the adopted 2026 biennial budget for the Health and Human Resources secretariat. He said the biennial budget totals about $203 billion and that roughly $76.3 billion of the total is for HHR; "the new budget just took effect July 1, so we're 8 days into the fiscal year," Tweedy said. He highlighted a $3.2 billion increase in general‑fund resources for HHR over the base budget, of which about $2.8 billion reflects the Medicaid forecast.