Committee reviews House-passed capital budget; members debate CTE placeholder, rail subsidies and agency projects

The Public Works and Highways Committee opened a public hearing on House Bill 25, the state capital budget, at about 9 a.m., where legislators described cuts and repurposings that brought the House plan below the governor's recommendation and discussed several contested line items.

Representative David Mills, chairman of the committee, said the House received the governor's capital budget recommendation of about $143.4 million but revised it downward, setting an internal target of $135 million and ultimately bringing the House figure to $132,500,000, "an $11,000,000 reduction." He told the committee the House repurposed a $20,000,000 governor proposal for career and technical education (CTE) after two town votes did not advance local projects, and used other adjustments to leverage roughly $64.9 million in federal funds for aviation projects and military matches.

The changes included added or altered projects across agencies: a dollar placeholder for the Milford Applied Technology Center to signal continued priority for CTE; additional money for the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway; funding adjustments for the University System's deferred-maintenance pool and for community college critical maintenance and IT infrastructure;…