The Senate committee on Executive Departments and Administration held a public hearing on amendment 3102s to Senate Bill 301 and heard testimony from Department of Corrections Commissioner Bill Hart on a proposed organizational restructuring.

Commissioner Bill Hart said the plan would divide senior leadership into a security side and a professional-operations side, create clearer career pathways and enable the department to flatten layers of management. "It is a cost reduction bill," Hart said, estimating "in the first year, it'll reduce cost by about 40 to $45,000" and similar savings in a second year. He added that, "as the attrition piece takes hold, it'll reduce cost by around, half $1,000,000," a phrase in the transcript whose precise numeric meaning was not clarified in committee.

Senator James Gray, who introduced the amendment, told the panel the change is intended to help departments meet budgetary requirements and said he expects supporting materials, such as organizational charts, to be provided as the proposal proceeds. A committee member summarized broader biennium savings in the transcript as "between a $45,550,000 dollars reduction," language echoed in discussion but not documented with departmental exhibits during the hearing.

The commissioner said the reorganization would focus reductions at the assistant-commissioner and director levels; lower-level positions, he said, would not be changed. Hart also said the structure is intended to be flexible so the agency can contract or expand without frequent structural changes.

After questions and discussion, the chair closed the public hearing and stated the committee did not intend to take action on the amendment that day. The item remains in the committee pipeline for possible attachment to other legislation or future floor action.