Appropriations committee approves amendment restoring funding to health care bill, reports H126 favorably

Committee Chair, House Appropriations Committee, said Friday that the committee approved an amendment to restore funding to the health care bill H126 and voted to report the bill favorably, sending it toward a committee of conference.

The amendment — described in the meeting as draft 1.2 — “put[s] the money back in” and, as the chair put it, the restored funds are “fenced off in the budget,” meaning they are set aside in budget language if the bill advances on its merits.

The committee paused briefly to allow members to review the amendment before taking the vote. After the roll call, a majority of members voted to approve reporting H126 as amended by the Committee on Health Care and further amended by Appropriations. Representative Dickinson recorded a “no” vote during the final roll call; the roll call transcript records multiple members answering “yes.”

The chair said the bill is likely to proceed to a committee of conference after it leaves the House Appropriations Committee and the floor. The committee identified Representative David (referred to in the meeting as “Dave”) as the member who will serve as reporter on the bill; the chair said that report would likely be filed on Tuesday, subject to the legislative calendar and token sessions.

Committee members asked for and received procedural clarifications during the meeting. The chair said the Senate had removed the money in its version of the budget and the amendment restored those funds in the House measure. Committee staff member Nolan was asked to email the committee the financial tables he had shared the previous day; the chair requested that Nolan send that material to David and to committee staff.

Members also discussed related scheduling: other bills the committee is watching — including separate DMV and workforce bills — were noted as not being voted on that day. The chair said another item (H219) had been vetoed by the governor despite related funding appearing in the budget, and the committee would follow up on technical language and constitutional concerns tied to that veto.

The meeting record shows the committee paused at one point so members could review the amendment text and then resumed for the roll call vote. The chair said that, because the bill will likely enter a conference committee, additional negotiation on language and funding would follow.

No statutory citations or specific dollar amounts for the restored funding were provided in the transcript.

The committee concluded by scheduling follow-up work: staff will provide the previously shared finance table by email, and the committee will continue related agenda items at its next meeting.