Senate Appropriations members move to strip multi‑year childcare funding from HB472, keep small mental‑health post

Senate Appropriations Committee members on May 21 discussed HB472, a bill that combines routine Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) changes with a proposal to set up licensure for early childhood educators, and asked staff to draft an amendment that would remove the bill's appropriations for future fiscal years while keeping a $170,000 general‑fund appropriation to fund an initial executive officer for regulation of mental health professions.

The item matters because the early‑childhood licensure portion would create five permanent OPR positions and a multi‑year funding plan that the committee said conflicts with the budget the Legislature already negotiated. Committee members said those future appropriations could create budgetary and staffing commitments beyond what the agreed appropriations package provides.

Chris Rupp, identified in the record as fiscal staff, told the committee that "HB472 is really two bills in one," describing an OPR miscellaneous package and a separate early‑childhood educator licensure section that would establish and fund five full‑time positions at OPR. Rupp said the bill as introduced would fund two positions in fiscal 2026 with a $262,000 general fund appropriation, add three more positions in fiscal 2027, and would annualize at about $630,000 to operate the new licensure system. He also summarized language in the bill that would direct a $1,400,000 distribution in FY27 from CCFAT to OPR to cover the first licensure renewal cycle until license fees begin to fund the program.

Rupp said OPR estimates biannual license revenue of roughly $1,000,000 to $1,350,000 once the system is operating and that the OPR fund would see about $220,000 in additional revenue per year from other proposed fee changes. He noted, however, that the committee's final budget from the committee of conference did not provide a $1,269,000 appropriation referenced in the fiscal note.

Committee members asked procedural and policy questions about whether the bill could lawfully appropriate funds for future fiscal years and said that the budget agreement passed by both chambers should guide action. One senator proposed removing the multi‑year appropriations language and making any new positions "contingent on appropriation," a change the committee chair supported in concept. The chair said, "I've asked Katie to draft an amendment from the committee ... that would strike the appropriations for FY26 and the language about intent for appropriating for future years," while retaining the $170,000 bridge for the mental‑health regulation position.

No formal vote on the amendment was taken during the session. Members instructed staff to draft the amendment and return with the revised language; the committee planned to reconvene after lunch to consider it. Committee members also discussed that the House had not yet seen the childcare licensure language and that the House or a future session could address remaining changes.

Discussion vs. decision: the committee's direction was to draft an amendment (direction/assignment) and not a formal legislative action; there was no recorded motion or vote on the amendment during the meeting.

Background details from the committee record: the early‑childhood licensure language would create five permanent OPR positions (two in FY26 funded at $262,000; three more in FY27), an annualized staffing cost near $630,000, and an FY27 one‑time transfer of $1,400,000 from CCFAT to OPR to cover initial renewal cycles until license fees begin. The bill also includes multiple miscellaneous OPR fee changes and removes motor vehicle racing regulation from OPR's authority.

The committee framed the amendment to align the bill with the appropriations package already negotiated in the committee of conference and to avoid creating positions that lack enacted appropriations. Committee staff said the budget construct can accommodate a $170,000 general‑fund bridge for the mental‑health regulation position for FY26, but members preferred language that either strikes future appropriations or makes positions explicitly contingent on future appropriations.

The committee adjourned for lunch with a plan for staff to present a drafted amendment later in the day.