Senate subcommittee reviews Department of Commerce budget; discusses internships, immigration grants, tourism and SIF-funded programs

The Senate appropriations Government Operations Division spent the bulk of the session reviewing the Department of Commerce budget and a set of SIF (special investment fund) and general-fund proposals that would affect workforce recruitment, tourism marketing and several grant programs.

Committee staff described a mix of base-level adjustments, new one-time requests and proposed transfers. Levi, committee fiscal staff, outlined line items including two newly added FTEs in the executive budget (one for the development fund and one procurement officer), temporary salary and operating requests for an internship program, and a request to continue a grant program supporting legal-immigration / global-talent initiatives. Levi summarized IT increases: while the recorded increase in committee materials was $68,000, he said the department’s operating budget includes multiple IT categories with larger totals (IT software about $60,000; IT data processing approximately $483,000; IT communications about $77,000; IT contractual services about $85,000), and the $68,000 figure represented the incremental operating increase.

Office of Legal Immigration / Global Talent: The committee heard a proposal to continue and expand the Office of Legal Immigration (also referred to as the Global Talent Office). Levi said the governor’s package proposed $250,000 in ongoing…