Legislative staff present technical corrections to FY2025 appropriations inyellow packet

Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with legislative services, told the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee that staff had identified several technical corrections to fiscal year 2025 appropriations and walked members through the "yellow packet" circulated at the meeting.

Jessup said one correction reassigns reappropriated broadband monies that were placed in the Department of Commercecommerce program in error; the funds should be recorded in the recently created broadband program so those broadband costs can be tracked separately. "We're taking the money out of one program and placing it in the other so that those broadband costs can continue to be tracked in the broadband program that was created for that purpose," Jessup said.

She also described a drafting error in a bill that affected the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Jessup said a $2 million transfer intended for the CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) improvement fund was drafted to move money from the "DEQ general fund" bucket rather than the broader state general fund. The result, she said, was that monies intended for other DEQ activities were shifted; the correction being proposed would "make the agency whole and replace those DEQ general fund monies that were transferred to the CAFO fund."

Finally, Jessup explained two adjustments for the Department of Health and Welfare: monies originally appropriated as trustee and benefit payments for the substance abuse treatment and prevention program and the physical health services program should instead be recorded as operating expenditures because the payments are to third-party contractors under contract. She said the department's bill included language restricting its ability to move money out of trustee and benefit payments, so the legislature must act to reclassify those expenditures.

Chairman Groh commended staff for the work and noted the corrections were technical; Ms. Jessup said the committee would vote on these corrections at a later session.

Why it matters: The corrections are technical but affect how spending is tracked and which appropriation categories are charged. Reclassifying funds and correcting drafting mistakes change transparency, auditing paths, and whether agencies have the authority to move appropriations without further legislative action.

Next steps: Committee members were invited to ask follow-up questions and the corrections were scheduled for a vote at a later date; no final committee vote was recorded on the corrections during the session.