Ways & Means advances H.141 budget adjustment; committee approves bill after discussion of childcare and education reserves

The Ways & Means Committee advanced H.141, the FY2025 Budget Adjustment Act, on a committee vote the clerk announced as 7 yes, 3 no and 1 abstention after a roll call and discussion of multiple program-specific adjustments.

The committee’s discussion focused on changes affecting the Childcare Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP), a backstop using the human services caseload reserve, and several education funding adjustments including a $1 million reduction to the state-placed students appropriation and shifts to adult education and literacy funding.

Emily Byrne of the Joint Fiscal Office walked committee members through an annotated memo tying the committee’s recommended adjustments to the sections of H.141. “What I’ve done is I took that memo that you sent to House Appropriations Committee, and then I just sort of annotated it with like, this is the section in the bill where it shows up,” Byrne told the committee.

On childcare funding, Byrne said the bill expands authority in section 79 to use the human services caseload reserve to transfer funds into the childcare contribution special fund if revenues underperform or expenses exceed projections. She described the reserve as “over $90,000,000” and said the language creates a backstop if the childcare fund ends the year out of balance. Byrne said the bill also includes committee intent language in section 80 to establish a formal childcare reserve in the future once more data on revenues and caseloads are available.

Committee members asked how the childcare funding interacts with prekindergarten expenditures and other education programs that serve the same children. Byrne said the Human Services Committee and the Education Committee expect to take more testimony this session to reconcile program design, counting rules, and recommendations from recent task forces or working groups.

On education items, Byrne said changes include: a $1,000,000 reduction in the state-placed students appropriation (from $20,000,000 to $19,000,000) reflected in section 40; adjustments to adult education, diploma and flexible pathway funding (now sections 41–42); edits to English language learner grant counts; and an unchanged reduction for Universal School Meals based on anticipated expenditures (section 44). She also reported that the bill contains reversions including roughly $7,000,000 from the tax department (section 53) and a provision in section 54 to carry forward approximately $133,000,000 from FY2025 to FY2026 based on the updated revenue forecast.

Additional technical and policy changes in H.141 noted by Byrne include transfers adjustments (sections 51–52), repeal or technical edits to several funds (workforce education and training fund, tobacco trust fund, traumatic brain injury fund), and inclusion of the marriage license fee with removal of its sunset in section 85. The committee also adopted property transfer tax recommendations to align allocations with Act 113.

Votes at a glance

The committee voted to move H.141 out of Ways & Means. Representative Maslin moved to advance the bill and Representative Holcomb seconded. The committee clerk announced the motion passed 7 to 3 with 1 abstention. The roll-call as read into the record named the following responses: an unnamed presiding member said they would vote yes; Representative Burkhart — yes; Representative Felvis — no; Representative Higley — no; Representative Holcomb — yes; Representative Kimball — yes; Representative Madland — yes; Representative Odey — yes; Representative Wozizak — yes; Representative Canfield — no; Representative Kornheiser — yes. The clerk then announced the tally as 7 yes, 3 no and 1 abstention.

What the committee did and did not decide

The action in committee advances H.141 to the next stage; it does not finalize FY2026 budgets or permanently establish a separate childcare reserve. Committee members and staff described the language in H.141 as creating transfer authority and an expressed intent to consider a formally established childcare reserve later, pending more data on revenue and caseloads.

Byrne emphasized that the $8,000,000 put into the childcare fund in the prior year remains available to the program unless the program’s revenues and expenditures drive the fund to require those dollars. “If you get to 0 or negative, right, pull that money in,” Byrne said of the backstop authority; she added that the $8,000,000 seed remains in the childcare fund unless it is drawn down by program needs.

Committee members asked for further reconciliation of pre-K program expenditures and the methods for counting shared services and children served between CCFAP and prekindergarten programs; Byrne said additional testimony will be forthcoming in Human Services and Education committee hearings.

Less urgent technical changes — including a list of reversions, transfers among funds, and several fund repeals or edits — were described as technical amendments the committee accepted and placed in H.141.

The committee recessed to move to a joint session with Senate Finance for the next item of testimony.

Ending note

The committee’s action advances H.141 with the listed adjustments and transfer authorities; staff said additional hearings and data will inform whether the legislature establishes a distinct childcare reserve in later legislation or budgets.