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Senators advance H.219 to create corrections parenting program; no new appropriation in bill
Summary
The committee voted to report H.219 favorably to establish a Department of Corrections parenting-support program; the bill contains a directive to report on implementation and places initial expansion costs on the Department’s existing budget rather than a new appropriation.
Senators on the committee voted to report H.219 favorably after hearing a presentation that the bill would establish a Department of Corrections parenting-support program and require the department to report back on progress.
The measure, introduced to the committee from the Institutions Committee, “establish[es] department corrections and support program,” and includes a Section 2 directive asking the Department of Corrections to include the costs of sustaining the expansion in future budget proposals to the governor, the sponsor said. “Section 2 requires the commissioner to have it be part of the … recommendation to the governor,” the sponsor told the committee.
Legislative fiscal staff told senators the bill contains no new appropriation. “There is no appropriation for this program in the bill,” a fiscal staffer said, and noted the Department of Corrections identified funds in its departmental budget to cover the FY2026 expansion to the two named facilities. The fiscal staff summary said the department had identified money in its base budget “sufficient to cover the fiscal year 20 26 expansion of this program, to men at the the 2 correctional facilities that are named in the bill, which are the Chittenden Regional State Correctional Facilities.”
The committee heard that while the current fiscal note relies on departmental funds to stand up the program at the two facilities named in the bill, Section 2 explicitly asks the Department of Corrections to include the necessary ongoing costs in future budget submissions. As the fiscal staff explained, that means any later, formal expansion statewide would depend on future budget proposals and appropriations: “section 2 of the bill includes a directive to the Department of Corrections to include the necessary costs to sustain these services, this expansion of services in future budget proposals to the general assembly.”
Committee members asked whether the department had cost estimates to expand the program statewide; the sponsor and fiscal staff said the department would be best placed to provide a statewide estimate and that the bill’s language is intentionally flexible so the department can determine operational needs for different facilities.
The committee moved the bill favorably. A roll-call in committee recorded the following affirmative votes: Senator North; Senator Watson; Senator Berube; Senator Westman; Senator Brennan; Senator Birchley (recorded on the motion). The committee record also notes that the measure requires a report back on program success as written in Section 2.
What happens next: H.219 will be carried forward with the committee’s favorable report; the Department of Corrections is directed by the bill to include sustainment costs in future budget proposals to the governor and the General Assembly so that future expansion would be funded through the regular budget process.
