The House Appropriations Committee on Dec. 16 heard the Agency of Human Services present a Budget Adjustment Act request that AHS said will add roughly $33,200,000 in general fund support and additional one‑time funding to address pressures across six departments.

Secretary Jenny Samuelson, speaking from offsite, said the agency’s FY26 budget is about $5.8 billion across all fund sources with approximately $1.4 billion in general fund. The BAA request, she said, responds to material changes since the budget passed and is being presented jointly by the agency’s executive leadership team.

Tracy O'Connell, AHS chief financial officer, outlined the largest category of pressure as caseload and utilization, for which AHS is requesting roughly $23.2 million in general fund. She said Medicaid enrollment has been comparatively stable but cost per enrollee and overall utilization have increased, and that some of the adjustment also responds to a DIVA clawback and higher use in private nonmedical institutions and nursing‑home bed days.

O'Connell described other material drivers: required rate adjustments (for example, a Medicare Economic Index adjustment for federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics of roughly 2.7%), contractual renegotiations that increased IT and vendor costs (including the MMIS vendor Gainwell and Deloitte’s Medicaid analytics work), and discrete operating pressures such as a Pilgrim Park lease and a Planned Parenthood Medicaid backfill.

AHS also listed offsets and savings: increased federal reimbursement in some eligibility groups (notably a childless adult group with 90 percent federal match, producing about $4.8 million general fund savings), carryforward funds from FY25, and a recent time‑study that increased Medicaid drawdown for probation and parole services (about $1.4 million in savings).

Committee members repeatedly pressed the agency for more granular data on what is driving higher utilization and asked AHS to have DIVA present detailed utilization figures so lawmakers can see whether the trend is an increase in service intensity per enrollee or a forecasting error.

Next steps: AHS said staff will provide line‑item detail and scenarios to the joint fiscal team; the committee did not take any vote at this session.