JFAC corrects FY2025 reappropriation to move broadband money into broadband office

The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Jan. 17 approved two technical motions to fix how fiscal year 2025 reappropriated broadband funds were recorded after the Broadband Office was added to the Department of Commerce.

Legislative Services analyst Janet Jessup told the committee that last year the Legislature added the Broadband Office to the Department of Commerce after reappropriation action had already been taken, and as a result the reappropriated dollars were recorded to the Commerce program rather than to the Broadband Office. Jessup said the committee’s corrections would remove the monies from the Commerce program and add the same amount to the Broadband Office so the funding is tracked for transparency going forward.

Representative Handy moved the first motion to remove $291,737,000 in reappropriated funds from the Department of Commerce Commerce program; Senator Cook seconded. The committee then approved a companion motion to add $291,737,000 in reappropriated funds to the Department of Commerce Broadband Program. Both motions passed on roll call 20–0 in the Senate and 20–0 in the House delegation of the committee and will carry due-pass recommendations.

The committee and staff described the pair of motions as netting to zero in the overall state accounting while shifting the ledger entries so the broadband dollars sit in the Broadband Office fund rather than a Commerce program account.

The motions were procedural corrections; no policy or new spending was created and committee members did not debate the broadband policy or project selections during the technical fix. The chair indicated this is a transparency and tracking correction following the organizational change enacted by the Legislature last year.

The committee moved immediately to other agenda items after the roll calls.