Committee approves multiple state appropriations; asks DFA for fire‑tax allocation schedule

A legislative committee approved a series of appropriation and fund‑transfer requests and reviewed numerous grant and contract items during a meeting in which members pressed officials for details about how a $5 million fire protection premium tax distribution will be allocated.

The action package approved items B1 through B20 — a set of temporary appropriation requests that included funding for military funeral honors, school foundational funding, state police equipment, and reimbursements directed by statute — and multiple later agenda sections covering American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requests. The committee approved the B1–B20 package by voice vote after a motion and second; a formal tally was not recorded in the transcript.

The committee focused its most substantive discussion on B19, a $5,000,000 transfer described as increased distributions to fire departments from the fire protection premium tax. Senator Irving questioned how the money will be dispersed and whether rural volunteer fire departments are included. Allen McVey, Department of Finance and Administration, described the appropriation as a passthrough of insurance premium tax money and said, "My understanding is it's the pass through of the premium tax money that flows through. We just act as a dispersing agent, for the money to flow through to the various fire departments across the state." McVey said he was not familiar with the distribution schedule but offered to provide it.

Senator Irving pressed for the schedule so the Legislature can see how state and local grant resources overlap; committee staff directed DFA to provide the distribution schedule to Senator Irving and to Billy (committee staff) for broader committee distribution. The transcript records that Allen McVey and Robert Breck (Department of Financial Institutions) confirmed the money comes from the homeowner insurance premium tax and that rural volunteer departments are included.

On B1, a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs requesting $20,500 to continue military funeral honors through the end of the fiscal year drew brief questions. Wayne Ruthven, Chief of Staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said the appropriation "will allow us to make those payments" for increased honors-team costs, and confirmed the request is separate from other Veterans Affairs travel and operating items discussed elsewhere on the agenda.

Beyond the B items, the committee reviewed and approved multiple program and grant requests listed in later sections, including American Rescue Plan Act items for nursing education and workforce pathways, IIJA requests for Brownfields cleanup and data‑sharing modernization, and an E section restricted reserve transfer of $6.1 million from a motor vehicle set‑aside to purchase state vehicles. Many other items were reviewed without extended discussion and were recorded as reviewed by the committee staff.

Votes at a glance

- Approve B1–B20 (various temporary appropriation requests, detailed list in committee packet): Approved (voice vote; tally not specified). Notable items included B1 (Department of Veterans Affairs, $20,500) and B19 (DFA, $5,000,000 for fire protection premium tax distributions). - Approve ARPA items C1–C7 (college workforce and nursing programs): Approved (motion and second; tally not specified). - Approve IIJA items D1–D6 (grants for tree nursery modernization, data modernization, hazardous material preparedness, Brownfields cleanup, LIHEAP adjustments, judge training): Approved (motion and second; tally not specified). - Approve restricted reserve transfer E (Division of State Police vehicle purchase, $6,100,000): Approved (motion and second; tally not specified).

Discussion, directions and next steps in committee

- DFA (Allen McVey) will provide the written distribution schedule and formula for the $5,000,000 fire protection premium tax passthrough to Senator Irving and to committee staff for distribution to the full committee. - No further formal actions were taken on items that were listed as "reviewed" in the packet; staff recorded those items for committee review.

The committee adjourned after a subsequent quorum challenge near the end of the meeting. Senator Peyton raised the quorum concern; the chair confirmed a lack of quorum and adjourned the meeting. The transcript does not record any roll‑call vote counts for the approvals noted above.