Senate’s capital-bill changes shift cash-and-bond mix; housing projects, infrastructure funding highlighted

At a May 1 meeting of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, Senator Wendy Harrison, chair of the Senate Institutions Committee, outlined the Senate’s proposed amendments to the House capital bill, saying the Senate shifted some projects from bond financing to cash and front‑loaded more bonding into fiscal year 2026 to stay within overall bonding capacity.

Harrison said the Senate proposes to fund three near‑ready housing infrastructure projects (the “3 B’s”) largely with cash in order to move them forward, while shifting about $700,000 in bonded dollars into FY26 to balance the two years. “We’ve asked for … a study evaluation to be done by JFO of the relative merits of using cash versus [bonding], and that’ll be finished in time for us to talk about it at the beginning of next year,” Harrison said, describing a request the Senate included to evaluate when cash is appropriate in capital budgeting.

Why it matters: the change affects how the state balances immediate project starts against long‑term debt costs and ties the capital bill’s funding decisions to negotiations in the larger “big bill” (the budget/appropriations bill).…