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Senate Institutions reviews H.494 cash‑fund amendment as lawmakers weigh bond vs. cash to restore Windsor County Courthouse funding
Summary
Committee heard a three‑page amendment to H.494 that alters section 19 (cash fund authorizations), including a proposed reduction in the Windsor County Courthouse cash authorization and discussion of a possible FY2026 bond top‑up to return that project to its prior $8 million authorization.
Attorney John Gray appeared before the Senate Institutions Committee on April 22 to outline a three‑page amendment to H.494 that would change the bill’s section 19 cash‑fund authorizations.
The amendment shown to the committee replaces subsection (c) of section 19 and adjusts the cash fund column carried over from the House. "What you see here is from this morning, a proposed amendment to the capital bill," Attorney John Gray said, explaining the document was shorter than earlier drafts because it confines changes largely to the cash fund section.
The most concrete line‑item change flagged in committee was an apparent reduction for the Windsor County Courthouse from the $8 million the House carried to $6.9 million. "The sole change you'll see to existing cash fund line items … is for that Windsor County Courthouse — that reduction from $8,000,000 to $6,900,000," Gray said. Committee members and staff discussed an option to restore that project to $8 million by authorizing an FY2026 bonded amount of $1.1 million, which would be paired with the bill’s cash authorization to reach the prior total.
Committee fiscal staff cautioned that whether the courthouse is paid with cash or bonds affects how sections elsewhere in the bill must be amended. Scott Morgan and other fiscal staff told the committee they were tracking where $1.1 million in bond authority could be found if lawmakers chose to restore the courthouse funding with bond proceeds.
Committee members discussed how the bill text and the committee spreadsheet are organized differently. Gray noted the spreadsheet’s cash column (column M) lists cash amounts by agency and may not read in the same order as sections in the bill, but the amendment text itself amends section 19 directly.
No formal vote or final action on the amendment was recorded in the transcript. Committee members asked staff to continue locating potential bond or cash offsets before finalizing the package for Appropriations. Several senators instructed staff to provide a final cash allocation number to appropriations by the evening deadline so the budget could be locked for the coming action.
Ending: Committee staff and the bill’s counsel agreed to refine the amendment language and to continue negotiating whether to use a bond allocation to restore the Windsor County Courthouse to $8 million; members asked for updated fiscal tracking before the bill is finalized.
