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House moves Appropriations Act to the floor and outlines $4.2 billion budget
Summary
Under suspension of rules the House placed House Bill 336 (Appropriations Act) on the floor; Representative Ballantine summarized the budget, including increases for corrections, higher education, public education, and human services, and subcommittee chairs gave brief reports.
Under suspension of the rules, the Utah House moved House Bill 336, the General Appropriations Act for FY1994, to the top of the third-reading calendar and began floor consideration.
Representative John Ballantine presented a summary of the budget, describing the total as approximately $4.2 billion (an increase the floor characterized as about 4.5% over a $4.025 billion estimate). He highlighted key allocations: an $8 million increase for corrections above the governor’s recommendation; $1.8 million more for higher education; $1.4 million more for public education; and $4.9 million more for human services than the governor proposed in specific areas. He also noted a $32 million reduction from the governor’s recommendation for the Department of Health that the floor said would be covered by revenue from a voluntary assessment tax included in earlier legislation.
Ballantine and subcommittee chairs outlined a range of investments and priorities: funding for class-size reduction, special education, career-ladder pay increases, prison medical increases, juvenile and adult corrections support, and a first-year allocation for a Saint George detention facility. Committee chairs from Human Services, Community and Economic Development, Higher Education, Natural Resources and Transportation each gave brief remarks and indicated areas of emphasis and concern.
Floor members proposed and debated several targeted amendments to the appropriations lines (for example, a representative proposed a $24,000 transfer in a prototype plan for maintenance sheds); the House accepted some micro-amendments and planned to continue debate and roll-call votes on distinct lines and package items as the calendar moves forward.
What happens next: Floor consideration will continue with detailed line-by-line and subcommittee review as the Appropriations Act moves toward final House passage and transmittal to the Senate; members were supplied summaries and pink-sheet pages to aid line-item debate.
