Committee hears House sponsor’s planned changes to Senate Bill 5 on contract accountability and federal funds reporting

Representative Layman, the House sponsor, told the House Ways and Means Committee he intends to present an amendment that pares down Senate Bill 5, focusing on a narrower set of transparency and contract-accountability changes rather than the broader approach the Senate advanced.

Layman said the amendment will require state agencies that seek new federal funds to report those requests to the budget agency on a quarterly basis, rather than be subject to a statutory “review” process. “The genesis behind this and the reason behind it is we just don't always know who's going out and capturing federal dollars,” Layman said, describing the proposal as a check to improve legislative visibility into newly captured federal programs.

The amendment, as Layman described it, would also: (1) keep a provision allowing the budget director to reclassify…