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Legislative Finance outlines $213.6M in Section 7 IT requests, flags reauthorizations and Project Unite
Summary
Legislative Finance staff told the committee that agencies requested roughly $213.6 million from the Section 7 Computer System Enhancement Fund for FY27–28, with the Health Care Authority’s Project Unite the largest single request; staff warned reauthorizations and projects beginning under a potential administration change warrant extra scrutiny.
Emily Hill, Legislative Finance Committee staff, told lawmakers the packet before the committee lists 32 Section 7 appropriation requests from 18 state agencies totaling roughly $213.6 million for IT projects covering two fiscal years.
Hill said Section 7 funds are appropriated from general fund revenue and distributed as interagency transfers; agencies do not receive cash immediately but must be certified by the project certification committee before drawing funds. "This allows an additional oversight of the state's investment into critical IT projects," Hill said.
The largest single request came from the Health Care Authority: Hill identified two projects totaling about $107.2 million, including a new initiative called Project Unite that would integrate health and human services agencies into the authority’s Medicaid management information system. She said the authority initially requested $59.9 million for Project Unite, with a mix of general and federal funds, and requested reauthorization for a continued child‑support system.
Hill also summarized reauthorization requests: 10 agencies asked to reauthorize 19 prior‑year appropriations originally totaling about $162.9 million; LFC staff‑pulled reported balances show roughly $72.8 million (about 45% of the original total) now sought for reauthorization. She said LFC typically supports reauthorizations for recent appropriations or projects near completion and is wary of repeatedly reauthorizing long‑unspent grants.
Committee members asked for more detail on the Children, Youth, and Families Department project that had grown from a $36.0 million original budget to about $90.4 million; Hill said LFC had prepared a four‑page brief and would share it with members and would invite the department to present further details.
Hill closed by noting that LFC evaluates Section 7 IT requests for alignment with the state IT project plan, agency goals and other success indicators, and she urged members to consider project risk if administration changes occur mid‑implementation.
The committee did not take formal action on the requests during this briefing; members asked LFC to follow up with greater project‑level detail and to coordinate presentations by agencies with large or contentious requests.
