House Appropriations Committee advances FY26 line items, holds several grant programs for further review

The House Appropriations Committee met Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, and by consensus agreed to close a series of FY26 departmental line items while leaving several grant programs and larger projects open for further review as the committee prepares the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Committee member 1, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, opened the meeting by noting the scheduling constraints and the committee’s task: "This is the House Appropriations Committee. It is Friday, 02/28/2025. ... we're gonna have 1 more round before we go home for town meeting" and asked members to identify items they were prepared to close.

The committee worked through a batch of administrative and service budgets—identified in the budget book as B112, B113 (including B113.1 engineering capital projects), B114, B115, B117, B119, B120 and related B1xx items—and members said those items could be closed because changes were limited to small personal‑service adjustments or routine transfers. Committee member 2 described the multi‑year trend in those accounts as “pretty flat across the last 4 years.”

At the same time the committee left several items open for follow‑up. Members put agriculture grant lines (including the Working Lands grants and related pages B223/B2204/225.2) and a clean‑water rollup on hold pending staff follow‑up to identify specific grant programs and allocations. Committee members asked staff to fetch the grants roll‑up details so the committee can confirm which individual grant programs and award amounts are in the summary figures.

Liquor and Lottery (noted as B206.1 in the budget packet) drew focused discussion on how to account for a proposed $1,820,000 enterprise‑fund technology project to modernize the business‑to‑business ordering system. Committee member 3 suggested removing the $1,820,000 from ongoing base spending and treating the item as a one‑time expenditure; the committee asked staff to add language in the bill packet (referenced in the meeting as section E236 part 1) to reflect that treatment. Committee member 3 said the item is "really a 1 to 9 expense" in terms of program accounting and recommended it be recorded as one‑time so the committee would not be asked to repeat it in next year’s base.

The military/training line (B215/B216 in the packet) was discussed as including scholarship and re‑training money for returning service members. Members agreed to leave the requested level in place for now but to monitor actual spending, noting the department’s expectation that a larger number of troops will return in April and use scholarship funds; the exact amount spent in prior years was discussed but not specified in the meeting record.

Committee members also reviewed technology and digital infrastructure requests. Energy and Digital Infrastructure letters and a proposed $15,000,000 infusion to support broadband/technology projects were discussed; committee members requested additional oversight language and cross‑committee coordination for those funds. Tax computer modernization and other IT projects were flagged for cross‑committee review because responsibilities and accounting can span both tax and IT budgets.

Several members discussed education and housing reserves. The committee reported that $133,700,000 has been set aside in cash and special funds to be available for FY26 items such as housing or education actions; members described the amount as fenced for FY26 but warned that subsequent chambers could reassign funds.

Health care dominated the latter part of the meeting. Committee member 6 said the committee should consider using one‑time funds to help "strengthen primary care until ... AHEAD will be more operational," arguing that a temporary bridge could reduce premium growth pressures and sustain primary‑care access while the federal/state payment transition proceeds. Other members cautioned that the AHEAD model’s future staffing and federal actions are uncertain and said the committee should monitor developments closely before committing additional base funding.

Committee leadership and staff briefed members on logistics: the committee will circulate a draft list of requests and the governor’s baseline for comparison, and members were asked to review committee letters across subject committees to ensure no items were missed. The meeting closed with scheduling and next‑steps: staff were asked to provide grant rollups, clarify the liquor enterprise accounting language, and prepare oversight language for digital infrastructure funds. The committee indicated a likely meeting upon return (tentatively Monday the 10th, afternoon) to continue FY26 decisions.

Votes at a glance: the transcript records committee consensus to close several administrative B1xx items (see actions array) but does not include roll‑call vote tallies; the committee placed several grant and program lines on hold for staff follow‑up.