Appropriations committee hears Senate Ways and Means changes to budget bill; advances two bills

The House Appropriations Committee met for an informational briefing on the Senate Ways and Means substitute to House Bill 2,007 and took final action on two bills, passing both out of committee.

Dylan Dear, assistant director for fiscal affairs, told the House Appropriations Committee that the Senate shorthand for the substitute to House Bill 2,007 remains under active revision but shows several notable departures from the House position. “For the record, my name is Dylan Dear. I'm the assistant director for fiscal affairs,” Dear said, and then summarized major adjustments the Senate had made compared with the House fiscal plan.

The shorthand deletes multiple ARPA interest allocations the House had included, Dear said, and restores a limited set of uses. For example, $26,000,000 in ARPA interest previously budgeted for ERP modernization was removed, while $20,000,000 of ARPA interest was retained and directed to the Board of Regents for demolition and reconstruction projects on campus facilities (the Campus Restoration Act). Dear summarized numerous line-item changes across agencies and funds but cautioned the committee that the Senate’s positions were not yet final and could change when the Senate Ways and Means Committee finished its work.

The draft substitute also includes provisions that withhold operating funds tied to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions unless the executive branch certifies those positions have been eliminated. Dear described deletions of $2,000,000 from the Department of…