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Senate adopts amendment to restore biweekly shelter reports and expand HomeBASE reporting
Summary
The Senate adopted an amendment to resume detailed biweekly reporting on emergency shelter occupancy and costs and to require similar reporting for the HomeBASE program, including de-identified demographics and cost breakdowns. Sponsors said strengthened reporting is needed after a lapse in statutory reporting.
The Senate adopted an amendment (Amendment 3) that requires the administration to resume biweekly reports on emergency shelter occupancy, costs and related details and to supply a retrospective account of reporting gaps that occurred while prior reporting requirements lapsed. The amendment also adds reporting obligations for the HomeBASE program, calling for de-identified demographic information, immigration-status indicators (de-identified), cost information, and program outcomes so the Legislature can assess HomeBASE impacts and spending.
Senator Bruce Tarr, sponsor of the redrafted amendment, said the detailed, biweekly reports previously provided under statute were a valuable transparency tool during the shelter crisis and that they had lapsed at the end of the fiscal year. He argued restoring biweekly reporting and extending similar reporting to HomeBASE would preserve accountability and help budget planning. Supporters, including Senator Roberts and others, urged colleagues to vote in favor to maintain oversight into both emergency shelter operations and the HomeBASE program.
A roll-call vote was ordered and the amendment passed with 38 members recorded in the affirmative in the transcript. The amendment requires continued reporting and a reconciliation of the information gap between the lapse and the present.
