The commission approved the draft 2027 Request for Proposals (RFP) and gave staff direction to refine the meeting calendar to balance member evaluation time and staff workload.

Staff summarized changes from the 2026 RFP: insertion of resiliency strategies from the commission’s strategic plan into funding priorities; clarification of financial‑capacity requirements (political subdivisions no longer required to submit current financial statements; audited report required); expanded guidance on allowable and ineligible expenses (clarifying out‑of‑state expense justification and moving certain travel items to the ineligible list); and removal of a flat prohibition on contingency funds for capital projects (reasonable contingency allowed).

After discussion about summer schedules, legislative primaries and staff capacity, the commission voted to adopt the draft RFP with staff authority for technical edits. On the calendar, the commission directed staff to return with a hybrid schedule combining aspects of the early and middle options (open the RFP earlier to give applicants more lead time but use a mid‑season presentation schedule) and asked staff to propose minor presentation‑schedule tweaks (longer presentation days, slightly different member evaluation deadlines) for the next meeting.

Vote summary: draft RFP adoption passed by roll call (11 yes, 2 no — Senators Green and Westrom voted no); calendar direction passed in a separate roll call (10 yes, 0 no recorded at vote time for the adopted motion to send a hybrid calendar plan to staff).