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Committee backs VINE, CISO and partial relocation funding for Attorney General; funds added for Medicaid Inspector General oversight
Summary
The General Government Budget Committee approved committee-level funding direction to restore VINE support, require cybersecurity staffing per SB 291, add partial relocation money for the Attorney General's Office and support increased staffing for the Office of Medicaid Inspector General after testimony on recoveries.
The House Committee on General Government Budget approved committee recommendations to fund the Attorney General's office for cybersecurity and VINE operations, authorized partial relocation funds and supported expanded resources for the Office of Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) after testimony on recoveries.
Ben Foster and other committee members discussed the Attorney General's budgetary needs, including $248,322 previously appropriated toward the VINE system and additional requests to finish procurement and operations. "We have been told at the end of September we have to move," Ben Foster, executive director of the Board of Cosmetology, told the committee in a related agency discussion about state office relocations; committee members later used similar relocation rationale when considering Attorney General office funding.
Representative Turk moved a package of items for the Attorney General's office for FY2025–FY2026 that included restoring VINE funding, adding Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and IT security support funding required by Senate Bill 291 (SB 291), and providing partial relocation funding. The committee voted to provide $350,000 of a requested $450,000 for relocation costs and to include CISO/IT support funding as required under SB 291; members indicated the final amounts will be reconciled in appropriations.
The committee also considered the Office of Medicaid Inspector General's request for additional staff. Steve Anderson, Medicaid inspector general, testified that since 2021 his office had identified nearly $300 million in wasteful or questionable Medicaid spending and cited an audit that would yield about $12 million in recoveries for continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the current fiscal year. "The return on investment is substantial," Anderson said. He described a prior veto of enhancement requests and said additional staff would expand audits and recoveries. The committee voted to add OMIG funding in a package that included a direction for OMIG to provide a report on recoveries to the committee.
Committee members discussed vendor and contract issues with the Board of Cosmetology's new licensing system (called Big Picture in testimony) and the Attorney General's IT needs; the committee directed agencies to provide follow-up documentation where contracts or cost estimates were unclear.
The committee's approvals in the transcript are committee recommendations that will be finalized in full appropriations and may be adjusted with provisos or further staff pricing.
