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Joint Budget Committee introduces a package of post‑budget bills; motions pass unanimously
Summary
The Joint Budget Committee approved introductions of several post‑budget bill drafts — including community corrections changes, cash‑fund transfers, a Prop KK cash fund re‑route, and a workforce center — and directed staff to issue RFIs on program details. Multiple motions passed 6–0.
The Joint Budget Committee met to review and introduce a slate of post‑budget bill drafts and related staff recommendations, approving multiple introductions and directing follow‑up work.
JBC staff presented a series of short drafts and memos the committee moved to introduce. Justin Brackie (JBC staff) described a community corrections draft that would repeal statutory authorization for the Division of Criminal Justice to transfer 10 percent between annual community corrections appropriations and would allow the division to over‑expend up to $2,000,000 for felony placements late in the fiscal year. The committee approved introduction and the chair said the bill will “start in the senate” and named sponsors; the motion passed 6–0.
Committee members also approved a blanket staff authority to make technical corrections to introduced bills, enabling staff to fix non‑substantive drafting issues without returning for every small change.
Other bill introductions approved unanimously included a cleanup repeal of a now‑empty natural disaster grant cash fund, a proposal to transfer unencumbered balances from the license plate cash fund (a staff summary proposed splitting available balances with 40% to the General Fund, 40% to the DRIVES cash fund and 20% remaining in the license plate cash fund), and a draft to move Prop KK behavioral health money into a new Behavioral and Mental Health Excise Tax Cash Fund to separate Prop KK programs from ARPA‑funded programs.
Staff also recommended and the committee approved an RFI in lieu of a $10,000,000 DORA revenue‑reduction bill; Michelle Curry (JBC staff) said, “I think it would be better to begin asking them for an RFI to update the last three years of sunset reviews…to use that as a different mechanism by which to figure out how to adjust what's happening within the department.” The committee voted to request that information and to proceed based on the RFI results.
On workforce and child‑welfare measures, the committee approved introduction of a workforce capacity center bill to shift funds intended for high‑fidelity wraparound services into a center intended to strengthen workforce capacity; staff flagged concerns that two years may be insufficient time to contract, train and produce measurable results, and committee members asked for quarterly reporting tied to existing statutory reports.
The committee also accepted a staff recommendation to remove a proposed ARPA reduction from HB221302 after staff found it would affect current grant awards. Several other agenda housekeeping items were approved, including staff authority to draft a bill addressing inactive cash funds and the removal of two lingering bills that have been folded into other vehicles.
Votes at a glance: all formal introductions and staff‑recommended motions recorded in this meeting passed unanimously (6–0) per the chair’s announcements.
What comes next: staff will finalize amended drafts where the committee asked for clarified dates or reporting language (notably the child‑welfare carve‑out and the workforce center), issue the requested RFIs, and proceed to introduce bills as they are finalized.
