Committee walks through FY26 amendment package: transfers from CFR and unclaimed property, S.127 reversion added, and farm fund insertion

Staff presented a package of amendments and technical corrections designed to reconcile the Senate FY26 numbers. The package relies on revised transfer estimates and statutory adjustments to balance the budget figures the committee is considering.

Committee staff explained they found a small shortfall in the Senate spreadsheet caused by a formula error and that additional funds became available from the treasurer’s office and unclaimed property projections. As staff put it, after reconciling the sheets “the money has fallen into our lap.” The package proposes updating the FY2025–FY2026 transfers (Department of Financial Regulation and unclaimed property) to bring the Senate side back into balance.

The amendment package also accounts for S.127 (the medical debt bill) by increasing a reversion documented in the bill from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 and separately appropriating $1,000,000 in the bill to the medical‑debt transaction (the staff explanation tied the reversion change to S.127’s enacted provisions). In addition, the amendment inserts a $1,000,000 transfer to a new Farm Security Special Fund that had been omitted in prior drafts; staff said the committee had intended that $1,000,000 and the amendment restores it.

Staff walked senators through multiple instances of amendment text, including scrivener corrections (e.g., matching the Bennington High School appropriation to the capital bill number), fund‑transfer lines and a consolidated DHFA appropriation. The package also corrects a line where some funds were inadvertently placed in public safety rather than the defender general appropriation and makes position‑language clarifications for classified versus limited‑service positions.

The committee did not change the substance of the positions language but did add a clarifying word for 1 limited‑service position to ensure it is created as a classified position. Staff said the amendment package would be submitted and that the spreadsheets handed out to the committee for floor work assume passage of the amendment.

What happens next: The committee will submit the amendment package for the Senate floor and expects the updated FY26 numbers to reflect the corrected transfers, the S.127 reversion change, and the restored $1,000,000 farm security transfer; committee staff will provide the updated transfer documents and the web report to members for floor materials.