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House Corrections and Institutions Committee reviews draft language for justice capital bill
Summary
The committee reviewed a Legislative Council draft of active bill language for a committee capital bill, focusing on reallocations between bond and cash funding, veterans home sewer and elevator upgrades, a correction to municipal grant figures, and questions about older agricultural-fair funds.
The House Corrections and Institutions Committee on Thursday reviewed the Legislative Council’s first draft of active language for a committee capital bill that covers justice-related projects, committee members and staff said.
Guy Gray of the Legislative Council led the walkthrough, telling the committee the second year of the capital bill lists only changes to existing sections and that aggregate totals will be finalized after all edits. “I am Guy Gray of the Legislative Council,” Gray said as he began the presentation.
Committee discussion centered on reallocations between bonded and cash dollars and several line-item adjustments. Gray said the draft reflects a $1.5 million aggregate reduction across fiscal years 2026–27 for a three-acre stormwater parcel achieved by taking $400,000 from FY26 and removing $1.1 million from FY27. He also said major maintenance is being treated as an overflow category for remaining bonded dollars.
Gray told the committee the draft reduces a proposed $2 million bonded allocation for 120 State Street HVAC in FY27 to $1 million and adds $1.3 million in FY27 bonding for Statehouse entryway upgrades. He said language for some items may be expanded — for example, to specify design documents or parking expectations — depending on testimony later in the day.
Members discussed the veterans home section and a proposed expansion of the veterans home authority’s flexibility to transfer unexpected project balances. Gray said the draft would add $1.25 million in FY27 bonding authority for sewage system upgrades at the veterans home and explained how the committee reallocated cash and bonded dollars: the governor’s $500,000 in cash for a sewer upgrade was zeroed and replaced with $500,000 in bonding, with additional bonded elevator funds reallocated to reach the total bonded amount requested for the sewer work.
Gray flagged and corrected a numeric error in the municipal pollution control grants: the draft had listed $2,000,000 but the correct figure is $3,922,400, which Gray said preserves the section’s aggregate totals once fixed.
A separate discussion focused on $26,000 described in the draft as FY22 funds targeted for Franklin County field days. Committee members and staff said the administering agency generally spends the oldest dollars first. Members expressed concern that pulling earmarked “old money” could produce an apparent shortfall for the county in the near term and noted a potential bookkeeping loophole; Gray said he would follow up with agency accounting to confirm what funds remain available.
No formal votes or motions were recorded during the walkthrough. Gray said reallocations and the cash section would be addressed next (section 9/page 10) and noted he may need to appear on the floor for a separate bill; the committee briefly agreed to go off YouTube while awaiting incoming language from Michael O’Brady and to reconvene later.
The committee’s next procedural step is to incorporate the corrections and any additional language from staff, confirm aggregate totals at the end of drafting, and continue with the cash-section review when members reconvene.
