Institutions committee reviews Act 33 cash allocations, seeks department IDs and fund balances
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Summary
The Institutions Committee heard a briefing from Scott Moore of the Joint Fiscal Office on changes to the capital construction bill (Act 33), focusing on FY26–FY27 cash fund allocations, an estimated $23M in FY27 cash sources and a broader $36M cash pool after reallocations and an asserted $17M influx. Members asked staff to confirm department IDs and current fund balances before making changes.
Scott Moore of the Joint Fiscal Office briefed the Institutions Committee on April 7 about cash‑fund changes in the capital construction bill passed as Act 33 and differences between the governor’s recommendations and the House positions.
Moore handed out a printed Act 33 and a color‑coded spreadsheet that shows Act 33, the governor’s recommended changes and the House’s edits, and said the committee’s green column is where it can record its own changes. “For the record, Scott Moore, Joint Fiscal Office,” he said as he began the presentation.
Why it matters: the committee must decide which FY26 and FY27 cash items it will accept, and some FY26 cash may already have been spent by agencies. Moore told members that reversions target items three years old and that staff should check with agencies before attempting to change cash that might already be expended.
The briefing highlighted several specific cash changes and examples: the governor added roughly $17 million in available cash this cycle under the annual transfer formula; FY27 cash fund sources were described as $23,000,000 and Moore said the broader cash pool — including prior reallocations and returned money — amounts to roughly $36,000,000. He cautioned that whether particular FY26 cash remains available depends on agency spending and recommended staff verification.
Moore walked the committee through sections of the bill and cited notable project-level cash items: a $3,000,000 House addition for Wi‑Fi installation in state correctional facilities and related bill language about a Department for Children and Families stabilization facility; $1,250,000 in cash the House added for replacement women’s reentry/correctional facility work; a $500,000 cash line for the USAR (search and rescue) facility/equipment that the governor proposed and the House concurred with; and multiple building‑repair and major‑maintenance cash additions the House generally accepted.
On smaller items, Moore said the House moved some earlier cash back into the budget rather than the capital bill — for example, a $25,000 line associated with Lake Champlain walleye work that the presenter said is funded through the main budget, not the capital bill. He used EV charging stations as a concrete example of a project that previously received cash and later returned part of it (Moore cited a roughly $195,000 returned amount as an example), explaining that returned or underused cash can be reallocated in the spreadsheet once departments confirm balances.
Committee questions focused on whether changes to FY26 cash would be inappropriate if agencies already spent the money and on getting the underlying department IDs and account balances. Moore said every appropriation is assigned a department ID once a bill passes; those IDs enable tracking and make it possible for staff to confirm whether a department has already drawn down cash. He offered to provide department IDs and to contact agencies for current fund balances.
No motions or votes were recorded on the item. The committee asked staff to follow up with department IDs and fund‑balance information for flagged items — including the EV charging stations, the DCF stabilization facility language, and the corrections Wi‑Fi and women’s reentry allocations — before making any substantive edits to the committee column of the spreadsheet.
The committee closed the item after Moore’s briefing; staff follow‑up on department IDs and agency balances was requested as the next procedural step.
