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Appropriations committee advances supplemental bill after debate over property-tax implementation funding and coordination language
Summary
The committee moved House Bill 3 (supplemental appropriations) as amended after divided votes on several amendments, including a failed coordination amendment tying a $1.7 million Department of Revenue allocation to pending property-tax-certification legislation and passed amendments adding other appropriations.
The House Appropriations Committee voted to pass House Bill 3, a supplemental appropriations measure, after extended discussion and multiple roll-call votes on amendments that changed several line items.
What was in dispute
A recurring focus of committee debate was a $1,700,000 supplemental appropriation included in HB 3 intended to allow the Department of Revenue to prepare systems and materials that would be necessary if the Legislature enacts a property-tax relief plan this session. Sponsors and some committee members said the supplemental would let the department begin work immediately so the state could implement relief without months of delay. Other members objected to placing planning and policy-related funding in a supplemental bill that is traditionally for unforeseen budget adjustments.
A coordination amendment that would have made that $1,700,000 contingent on the passage of any bill requiring the Department of Revenue to “certify primary residence or long-term rentals” failed on a roll-call vote, 7 yes to 16 no. The amendment’s text would have voided the appropriation unless a qualifying bill passed; opponents argued the language was either too narrowly linked to a single concept or otherwise the wrong vehicle for a policy-driven appropriation.
Other amendment outcomes
- An amendment to retitle a program line item passed by voice vote (no division recorded).
- An amendment that increased funding for the Department of Public Health and Human Services’ Health Facilities Division by $5,000,000 (to pay for traveling health-care staff, chiefly at the Warm Springs state hospital) passed on a roll call, 14 yes and 9 no.
- An amendment adding $973,201 for the Department of Justice legal services division passed on a roll call, 17 yes and 6 no. Committee discussion indicated those funds are requested to cover attorney fees and settlements tied to recently litigated cases; staff and counsel warned that nonpayment could expose the state to interest and additional penalties.
Final passage
After amendments were adopted and debated, the committee approved HB 3 as amended on a roll call of 20 yes and 3 no. Committee counsel and budget staff explained that the fiscal notes and roll-ups from bills are included in the general-fund status process and that individual appropriations must still be taken into the budget-base process if the Legislature intends them to be ongoing.
Why it matters
Committee members described a tradeoff: providing supplemental funds now to let an executive agency prepare for rapid implementation if the Legislature passes property-tax relief, versus waiting to appropriate implementation money until the Legislature enacts the policy and can appropriate a specific sum. That choice affects how quickly relief can be implemented and whether agency work begins under a temporary or permanent funding plan.
Ending
The committee moved HB 3 out of committee as amended. The transcript records the roll calls for several of the amendments and the final committee vote; the committee will forward the bill as part of the session’s supplemental appropriations work.
