Committee trims several State Capitol construction items, reduces corrections security request to $9 million

The House Appropriations Committee amended and reported House Bill 258, a State Capitol construction and related capital appropriations bill, after a series of floor amendments that reduced or removed several line items and reduced a Department of Corrections security-electronics request.

Representative Pendergraft led multiple amendment efforts to slow or reduce capital spending, citing uncertainty in the long-term budget forecast. On page 4 of the bill, the committee adopted an amendment by Pendergraft to reduce a planning-studies line (about $712,000 as described in the chamber). That amendment passed on a voice vote.

A substantial discussion followed on a request for security-electronics upgrades for Department of Corrections facilities. Dan Shannon of the Department of Corrections told the committee the agency has aging, proprietary security systems and increasing contraband threats, including fentanyl. “The old tilt zoom cameras, the systems that operated our control centers, our doors, our gates, our fences, things have changed,” Shannon said. He described recurring maintenance on gates and fences and said some facilities require software replacements rather than hardware alone.

Representative Pendergraft moved to strike an $18,000,000 security line for the Department of Corrections. That motion was amended on the floor to cut the request in half to $9,000,000; Representative Sherwood seconded the amendment to the amendment. Department leadership told the committee any amount would assist and offered to return with detailed findings; the committee adopted the amended reduction, leaving $9,000,000 in the bill for security electronics.

Committee members also debated other proposed deletions and restructurings of line items and attendant oversight positions (referred to in the packet as AWAC assignments and footnotes). Where members sought to remove specific project oversight positions tied to projects that remain, staff advised the footnotes and retained assignments that applied to the projects the committee did not delete.

After completing page-by-page work and taking votes on the amendments, the committee took a roll-call vote on House Bill 258 as amended. The clerk recorded seven ayes and no nays; the bill was reported do pass with amendments.

Committee discussion noted the need to prioritize capital work amid uncertain revenues and the intent to split presentation duties for the related construction bills when they go to the full House.