Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Indian Affairs Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subcommittee accepts Senate version of Indian Affairs Commission budget
Summary
The Appropriations - Human Resources Division subcommittee voted to adopt the Senate changes to Senate Bill 2005, the Indian Affairs Commission budget; members said the Senate and House versions were effectively identical except for an FTE pool change and the commission does not need additional funds for the 'feather alert' matter.
At a meeting of the Appropriations - Human Resources Division subcommittee, members voted to accept the Senate version of Senate Bill 2005, the budget for the Indian Affairs Commission.
The subcommittee’s adoption means the House subcommittee will send the Senate’s language forward unchanged unless conference discussions alter it. The change staff identified as different in the Senate version was limited to the FTE pool, and the commission’s executive director told the panel the recently passed “feather alert” legislation did not require extra appropriation in the commission’s budget.
Chairman Nelson opened the discussion by asking whether the subcommittee should take the Senate changes “as one full sweep.” Grant Gator, fiscal analyst with the Legislative Council, told the panel the only substantive change from the Senate was the FTE pool. Representative Anderson moved to adopt the Senate version; Representative Murphy seconded the motion. The clerk called the roll; the motion passed on a unanimous recorded vote. Representative Wagner was designated the bill carrier for the subcommittee.
Brad Hawk, identified to the committee as executive director of the Indian Affairs Commission, said the feather alert legislation would add the commission to an oversight group but that the commission did not need additional budget language for that role. “I just seen that, that bill just wanted us to be part of that commission or that group. And so, I don't feel like we need anything added to our budget,” Hawk told the panel.
Committee members and staff discussed logistics of approving the Senate changes without walking line-by-line through the budget documents, and staff advised the chair that taking the Senate package as a whole would be acceptable. There was no substantive debate recorded on program expansions or new funding in the Indian Affairs Commission budget beyond the FTE pool item.
The subcommittee’s formal action was to accept the Senate version of Senate Bill 2005 and move it forward; the committee recorded unanimous support on the roll call.
The panel moved on to other appropriation items after the vote, leaving any possible conference adjustments to the next stage of the process.
