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Committee holds public hearing on House Bill 650 to clean up dedicated funds
Summary
A public hearing on House Bill 650 heard sponsors describe three technical changes: splitting Cannon Mountain accounting, capping a robotics education fund, and repealing two obsolete dedicated funds; the committee did not act at the hearing.
A public hearing was held on House Bill 650, a cleanup bill for a set of state dedicated funds, sponsors told the committee.
Dan McGuire, who said he represents the town of Epsom, and Representative Almi of Lebanon described three main provisions of the bill. The bill would split an existing Parks Department dedicated fund so that Cannon Mountain’s winter recreation accounting is separate from the department’s general parks fund; it would cap a robotics education dedicated fund at $1 million so excess balances lapse to the general fund; and it would repeal two small dedicated funds whose enabling statutes had already been removed, the sponsors said.
The split for Cannon Mountain responds to how the Parks Department has been accounting for skiing and winter activities separately from park operations, McGuire said. Representative Almi told the committee the change should ease the parks department’s ability to maintain parks that receive different amounts of voluntary, park-level contributions.
On the robotics fund, sponsors said the fund had historically received about $750,000 a year from state appropriations while grants awarded had been substantially less, allowing the fund balance to grow. The bill language would cap the robotics fund’s carryover at $1 million; any amount above that at the end of a biennium would revert to the general fund, the sponsors said.
Senators questioned how the robotics fund was being used. Frank Adeluk, identified in the hearing as Commissioner of Education, said the department treats the amounts in the fund as “obligated” (granted to districts) rather than merely encumbered, and that school districts regularly apply for and receive the funds. Adeluk said the department could accept a $1 million cap but suggested clarifying “encumbered” to “obligated” in the bill’s language to reflect how the money is actually awarded.
Adeluk and other witnesses told the committee that the robotics grants have had steady demand and that in recent years the department has carried a waiting list for grants; the department’s House budget later reduced the annual general-fund support for robotics to about $483,000 a year from an earlier $750,000 proposal, the department said during questioning.
No formal committee action was taken at the close of the hearing; the committee closed public comment and planned to hear from departments and other presenters at a later time.
