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Legislative staff outlines technical FY2025 budget corrections for broadband, CAFO fund and health programs
Summary
Legislative analysts told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that three technical corrections to fiscal 2025 appropriations move existing dollars between program lines so monies can be tracked correctly; the corrections will be voted on at a later date.
Legislative staff presented three technical corrections to fiscal year 2025 appropriations to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, saying the changes move previously appropriated dollars between program lines so funds will be tracked in the correct accounts.
Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the packet on members’ desks (the yellow packet) contains the corrections, which staff expect the committee to vote on at a later meeting. "The Department of Commerce was provided reappropriation authority and then subsequent to that the broadband program was created in order to increase transparency and oversight of spending regarding broadband monies received by the state," Jessup said. The correction moves money that was reappropriated into the Commerce program into the new broadband program so those costs can be tracked in the broadband program created for that purpose.
Jessup also described a drafting error that affected a $2,000,000 transfer to the CAFO improvement fund in 2025. "As a result of drafting error, so I can own that, I drafted that bill," Jessup said. She explained the bill language referenced the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) General Fund bucket rather than taking the transfer from the state general fund as intended; because of that wording the transfer was not made as intended. The correction in the packet would "make the agency whole and replace those DEQ general fund monies that were transferred to the CAFO fund," Jessup said.
A third correction moves amounts that had been appropriated in trustee and benefit payments into operating expenditures for two Department of Health and Welfare programs: the substance abuse treatment and prevention program and the physical health services program. Jessup explained the amounts are going to third-party contractors and therefore should be coded as operating expenditures; the agency’s bill language restricts moving money out of trustee and benefit payments, so the legislature must approve the change.
Committee members asked a few clarifying questions; Jessup and other Legislative Services staff said the items are technical and net to zero (money moved between categories, not new spending). The committee did not take a final vote on those corrections during the session; staff told members the items would be put to a vote at a later meeting.
The committee’s chair commended staff for their work reviewing hundreds of agency budgets and noted the corrections appear to be technical drafting remedies rather than new policy shifts.
Ending: Committee staff indicated the three technical corrections will be on a future agenda for formal action; no funds were added or removed overall, and members were encouraged to consult Legislative Services analysts with follow-up questions.
