House Appropriations Committee releases draft budget, fences funds for emergency housing bill H91

The House Appropriations Committee circulated a first draft of its budget priorities on March 19, 2025, and the committee chair said the plan fences $12,000,000 for H91, an emergency housing bill being developed by the Department of Human Services.

The committee chair, speaking after roll call, emphasized that the document is a draft and said the $12,000,000 is being set aside to accompany the H91 bill when it arrives: "We are fencing off the money that they, we think they're going to need for that bill. And the money in this case, the money and the bill are going to go together." The chair said the appropriation will be held pending the bill's movement through its authorizing committee.

Why it matters: the committee framed the draft as an initial attempt to balance requests against limited general fund resources, prioritizing a set of urgent needs while cutting or reducing other programs. The chair said the committee received many requests for "incredibly worthy projects" and that producing a feasible budget required limiting some proposals.

Key items in the draft include the fenced $12,000,000 for H91; an itemized set of health-care related allocations (see separate article on primary care); rate increases for home- and community-based services and for designated agencies (DAs) and specialized service agencies (SSAs); targeted childcare rate increases for infants and toddlers; and a set of position requests for agencies and commissions. The top-line numbers in the circulated draft were described by the chair as roughly balanced after accounting for specific transfers and one-time sources, and the chair said a corrected version of the document was posted on the committee web page.

The committee described several sources and transfers that affect the draft totals: reversions and transfers from the treasurer's accounts, federal earned receipts routed through AHS, opioid-settlement receipts, and other one-time sources. The committee noted a prior appropriation of $20,000,000 for medical debt relief that it moved into the main budget and a plan to reallocate $14,000,000 from that existing appropriation to the same purpose in the budget rather than the budget adjustment.

The chair repeatedly stressed the draft nature of the document and asked committee members and staff to continue refining numbers and language, including contingency language for items that may depend on future revenue or program definitions. The committee planned to continue work and to discuss the draft in forthcoming meetings and floor sessions.

Ending: The chair said members should review the posted draft, consult with JFO or other staff where needed, and bring questions back to the committee for further revision. "This is a draft. We're gonna discuss it, but we gotta start somewhere," the chair said.