The Senate Health and Welfare Committee said May 16 it will review an administration memo and have staff draft possible changes to House Bill H 91, which the committee has been working on for several weeks, but it took no formal vote during the session.

Committee chair said the panel "received the bill 3 weeks, after, crossover, and we've really put it up on the top of our agenda and worked, overtime to improve the bill as much as we can before sending it back to the house." The chair said staff member Katie McMillan will help draft language and the committee will ask the administration for recommendations that could be returned in November or considered during the BAA process.

The chair sharply criticized the timing of the administration's memo, saying, "That email confirms to me what I've been worried about the whole time That the administration just wants to pawn off the homeless, underfund it, and make it somebody else's problem and make it go away." The comment described the committee's view that the memo arrived very late in the legislative schedule and has constrained the panel's ability to complete work on the measure.

Committee discussion indicated the bill still needs to clear the Appropriations Committee and is likely to face a conference committee process. The chair said she "would like to vote the bill out" but acknowledged "it has a ways to go" and that the committee will consider whether to incorporate administration suggestions into the bill or pursue other options.

No motion or roll-call vote on H 91 occurred during the minutes covered by the transcript. The committee paused the meeting for a short recess while staff prepare draft language; the chair asked members not to go far and estimated the break at "15, 20 minutes." The chair also reported meeting with a commissioner who had an additional suggestion the committee may consider.

The committee said it has been working with affected parties and the administration on H 91 for roughly three weeks but noted the compressed timeline because of the late memo. The next steps, as described in the meeting, are staff drafting language, seeking administration recommendations to return in November, possible consideration during the BAA process, referral to Appropriations, and then likely conference committee work before final passage or rejection.