Senate Finance Committee advances a slate of supplemental appropriations, realignments

The West Virginia Senate Finance Committee on a series of voice votes on multiple bills reported several supplemental appropriations and intra-budget realignments to the full Senate.

Committee action moved money into medical services lines, the HOPE Scholarship program and several other accounts; several items were described as one-time supplements while others were characterized as ongoing obligations that will be spent in fiscal year 2026.

Why it matters: The measures shift tens of millions of dollars of unappropriated surplus and lottery fund balances into state program lines, affecting funding available for human services, education and economic development programs next fiscal year.

The committee first considered Senate Bill 766, a new medical services–lottery surplus appropriation within the Department of Human Services that, according to counsel, would appropriate $45,022,906 from the unappropriated balance of the excess lottery fund. Senator from Harrison moved that SB 766 be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass; the chair called for the ayes and declared the motion adopted by voice vote.

The panel then advanced Senate Bill 767, a supplemental that would appropriate $39,376,837 from the unappropriated balance of general revenue surplus to a new medical services surplus appropriation in the Department of Human Services’ Bureau of Medical Services. The committee reported SB 767 to the full Senate by voice vote…