Senate Transportation advances H.488 after committee edits; vote 5-0

The Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday voted to move H.488, the fiscal year 2026 transportation bill, as amended (draft 5.1) out of committee by a roll-call vote of 5-0-0.

Committee members closed or advanced multiple sections of the draft and asked staff and agencies to return next week with tightened language on several items, including legal-trail liability, volunteer driver expansions and related outreach. Damien Leonard of the Office of Legislative Council described the version before the committee as “draft 4.2,” saying work would continue to section 3 and later be issued as draft 5.1 for the vote.

The committee spent significant time clarifying three budget-related provisions and several programmatic directives. On fiscal language, Candace Alquist, chief financial officer at the Agency of Transportation, said the committee’s intent was to connect expected FY26 revenue losses tied to two bills to a carry-forward unobligated balance of $686,000: “there are 2 bills out there, estimated revenue loss in FY26, so $686,000,” Alquist said, describing edits that tie reversions identified in FY25 to that specific amount. Leonard said the draft includes intent language that the unobligated balance be used to offset estimated transportation fund revenue losses in future budget proposals.

On volunteer capacity, the committee approved language providing $600,000 in general funds to AOT to award grants to…