Joint Fiscal Committee holds large portions of Act 113 open, flags federal‑fund cut triggers and technical fixes

The Joint Fiscal Committee on Wednesday reviewed the senate version of the fiscal year budget bill (Act 113) and left multiple sections open for further work, saying staff would incorporate technical corrections from the administration and clarify how federal funding reductions would trigger statewide spending changes.

Grady Nixon, a fiscal analyst with the Joint Fiscal Office, told committee members the document under review should be 102 pages and includes both technical edits recommended by the administration and a set of items with “outstanding questions.” “There are a number of proposed changes that the Joint Fiscal Office has reviewed and determined to be technical in nature and then some that we saw some outstanding questions on,” Nixon said.

The committee closed routine annual sections but kept open several substantive provisions pending clarification. Members specifically asked staff to revisit language on: the fiscal‑year closeout, cash‑fund appropriations, a transfer from a transportation fund to the TIP fund that the house reduced from $2.3 million to $900,000 (creating a $1.4 million difference flagged for explanation), and one‑time appropriations that overlap with earlier budget‑adjustment language.

Committee members discussed a house change that reduced a planned transfer to the TIP fund and noted uncertainty about the…