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Senate returns HB2 with 6% recurring increase, 30% reserves; presenters say bill reconciles executive requests
Summary
Presenters told the House committee that Senate Finance amended House Bill 2 to reflect a 6% recurring spending increase and roughly 30% reserves while reconciling a set of executive requests and nonrecurring asks.
House and Senate budget leaders briefed the House on Senate Finance’s amendments to House Bill 2 (HB2), saying the Senate’s version retains a 6% recurring spending increase and about 30% in reserves.
Director Salih, who summarized the Senate changes, told the committee: “house bill 2 came back over with 6% spending, like we agreed to, 30% reserves.” He also summarized the larger fiscal picture, saying, “This is a total spend of $33,000,000,000 when we include, federal health care, and other state funds.”
The presenters told members the Senate and executive had negotiated recurring and nonrecurring items. “The exec came in with about $80,000,000 in reoccurring costs… That came in with $480,000,000 of non reoccurring costs, and we settled that $80,000,000,” Director Salih said. Committee members were pointed to online spreadsheets and a published back-of-the-bill package for line-by-line language and fund-transfer details.
Committee members asked about the budget’s federal match and totals. Presenters gave an aggregate federal-match figure for the package and noted some variation in totals reported on summary pages: presenters said the federal match was discussed as roughly $11,000,000,000 in one place and $14,000,000,000 elsewhere in the materials, and referred members to the published spreadsheets for verification.
Presenters also noted the practical mechanics of reconciling the House and Senate versions: the Senate package replaces the ‘‘guts’’ of HB2 with a single omnibus amendment and publishes spreadsheets showing agency-level changes and language differences. Members were told to use the budget director’s emailed amendment list and the Senate Finance back-of-the-bill database for precise line items and language.
The briefing ended with presenters noting remaining questions can be addressed by staff via the provided packet and the online tools. No formal votes were taken during the informational update.
Ending: Committee chairs and staff said they will remain available to walk members through specific amendments or language changes and to provide the underlying spreadsheets and back-of-the-bill materials for members’ review.
