Senate Appropriations committee approves strike‑all amendment to H141, 4‑3

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a strike‑all amendment to House Bill H141 on Feb. 18, voting 4‑3 on a roll call after committee members reviewed final edits. The bill was described in the meeting as "an act relating to fiscal year 2025 budget adjustments."

The committee chair opened the meeting by saying, "Senate Appropriations February eighteenth. Going over final edits to the bill," and staff described the specific edits the committee considered. Freddie Nixon, joint fiscal staff, summarized the changes: "So on page 1, you'll see a new section will be added to amend act 1 13 section e 1 0 6. So this strikes commas and adds in semicolons, for that BHCB language." Nixon also outlined matching language added to section 50 and technical statutory updates in the human services caseload reserve provisions.

The committee reviewed edits on multiple pages of the draft (pages 1, 2, 3 and 5 were cited) and agreed to limit one piece of directive language to the current fiscal year: "This clarifies that... this directive language, is for the current fiscal year only," a staff speaker said when describing the change pulled from the House recommendation. The committee also removed a specific statutory call‑out for the childcare contribution special fund (referred to in the meeting as CCFAP), so the language no longer specifically names that fund in statute but instead applies a FY2025 directive, per staff explanation.

Procedural and clerical issues were raised before the vote. Committee members noted the absence of a draft number for the version being voted on and discussed the order of the roll call sheet; one member said some names had been called out of the expected order and a different sheet was requested. The chair announced, "We're voting on strike all men at h 1 41 at the house," and a motion was moved on the floor; committee members then completed a roll call. The vote recorded: Senator Norris — no; Senator Baruque — yes; Senator Watson — yes; Senator Lyons — yes; Senator Westman — no; Senator Brennan — no; Senator Perchlet — yes, producing a 4‑3 result.

The vote implements the committee's agreed technical edits and the FY2025‑limited directive language described in the meeting. No dollar amounts, effective dates beyond FY2025, or additional implementation steps were specified during the discussion. The clerk and committee staff indicated the final draft and draft number would be supplied later and that the committee's changes would be reflected in the as‑passed Senate version of the bill for transmission to the next stage.