Appropriations chair previews budget-adjustment timetable; committee to seek final numbers and language

The House Appropriations Committee spent part of its March 18 meeting outlining the schedule and approach for a near-term budget-adjustment bill and a quick series of decisions ahead of the budget floor activity.

The committee chair briefed members that negotiators expected to finish budget-adjustment talks with the governors office that afternoon and that the adjustments would be presented as a committee bill the next day. The chair said the committee would need to vote the bill out the following morning and planned a straw poll before midnight Friday to gauge member priorities.

Committee staff and Joint Fiscal Office personnel will provide spreadsheets separating one-time from base changes, and members should expect targeted language packages rather than a single voluminous document. The chair described a compressed schedule in which JFO typically provides final numbers shortly before the committees formal vote; members then read the proposal, raise questions, and proceed to the final vote.

The chair emphasized the pace and asked members to be prepared for a multi-hour, detail-focused session the next day. The committee did not take any formal votes on budget adjustments at the March 18 meeting and instructed staff and JFO to prepare numbers and draft language for the next session.

— Ending note: Committee staff said they will circulate proposed spreadsheets and language ahead of the next meeting and that JFO staff will be available for questions as the committee finalizes decisions.