Appropriations subcommittee approves final voting packet, fee changes and budget priorities
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Summary
The General Government Appropriations Subcommittee approved the chairs' voting packet — including federal grant acceptances, two pieces of legislative intent language, technical corrections, fee changes tied to HB 8 and prioritized reduction options — and forwarded its prioritized lists to the Executive Appropriations Committee.
The General Government Appropriations Subcommittee met and approved the chairs' final voting packet, including federal fund acceptances, legislative intent language, technical corrections, fee changes (aligned with House Bill 8) and prioritized reductions for referral to the Executive Appropriations Committee.
Committee staff from the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office presented the packet. The committee approved the federal funds request (item 1) and the updated voting packet as proposed by the chairs after a brief presentation from staff. Representative Hawkins moved to approve the legislative intent language (item 2), and the committee approved it with the changes discussed.
Two intent‑language requests were highlighted by staff: the Insurance Department requested $500,000 non‑lapsing authority limited to costs related to preparing for ongoing litigation to enforce the insurance code and to support office restructuring; the Tax Commission requested a one‑time $100,000 appropriation to implement and trial fraud‑prevention software and to negotiate a vendor contract tied to additional revenue collected. Staff told the committee they had verified with legislative research and the purchasing department that the proposed contract structure would be allowed.
The committee approved a set of technical corrections (items 3a–3e), including corrections to beginning/closing lapsing balances (~$23,800 net), ISF capital outlay and FTE requests, and line‑item moves within the lieutenant governor's budget funded by fees. The committee also approved a package of fee changes and ISF rate updates included in HB 8 after staff described a new presentation format (a fee dashboard and fee change report showing new, changing and inactivated fees).
On reductions, the chairs presented a prioritized list of potential reallocations. Representative Loubay successfully moved to reprioritize item 31 (an operations and maintenance reduction tied to office‑space repurposing) from the end of the list to the top. The committee then approved the reductions priority list as amended; the motion passed unanimously in the House and 4–1 in the Senate (Senator Bluhan recorded the 'no').
The subcommittee approved requests from non‑state funds (item 6) and the prioritized list of state general‑fund requests (item 7). Staff noted that some items combine one‑time and ongoing requests and that Executive Appropriations had asked for separate lists; the committee prepared and forwarded the prioritized lists accordingly.
The chair thanked staff and members for the work in a difficult budget year and adjourned the meeting.
Votes at a glance: the packet's principal motions (minutes approval; item 1 federal funds; item 2 intent language; items 3a–3e technical corrections; item 4 fee changes/HB 8; item 6 non‑state funds; item 7 state fund priorities) were approved by the subcommittee. The reductions priorities list passed with one Senate dissent on the amended order.
