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House Appropriations Committee refines budget negotiating language, extends contingency authority from Act 27 and adjusts program allocations
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Summary
The House Appropriations Committee reviewed negotiating language and agreed to extend contingency authority from Act 27 through FY2029, corrected a youth system bed count, made a reinsurance waiver permissive, raised an HIV/AIDS grant to $150,000, discussed supervised visitation funding and flagged a VSAC spending-authority change to appear Monday.
The House Appropriations Committee on March 20 met to finalize negotiating language for the budget and to extend a contingency mechanism first included in Act 27, committee members said.
Grady Nixon, joint fiscal, told the committee that language in Act 27 directs the secretary of administration to present options to the joint fiscal committee if federal funds are reduced. “So, essentially, what this language does is, put continue that authority and that structure for addressing federal fund reductions in fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029,” Nixon said.
The committee also agreed to a technical correction in language describing the high-end system of care for youth: Nixon flagged that a reference that read as an 8–14 bed figure should be changed to “41 bed,” because the provision applies to the entire system rather than only the youth campus. “That should be changed to 41 bed,” Nixon said, and members concurred.
On health-care-related language, legislative council revised a waiver amendment in the reinsurance letter so it is permissive rather than directive, a change members said was acceptable. The committee also aligned an HIV/AIDS appropriation to Act 74 FY2026 amounts: Nixon noted the committee letter had $110,000 going to the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont but that it should align to FY2026 figures and be increased to $150,000.
The committee signaled a request to adapt the Act 167 (Wyman) report language and to add the Department of Health and Department of Mental Health to the scope of review, but legislative council adjusted the draft to ask agency staff to "look into" the engagement process rather than immediately launch it.
Nixon said page 10 will direct the agency to present separate FY28 line items for the Choices for Care program and skilled nursing facility services, and he introduced draft language for supervised visitation funding that staff will refine over the weekend. Committee discussion focused on whether the intended supervised visitation figure should be $125,000 or the rounded $130,000 reflected in the spreadsheet; the chair asked staff (Katie and Teresa) to reconcile the spreadsheet numbers.
A committee member summarized the funding sources for one program as three flows that total $367.05: an amount from the Center for Victims Credit Services to DCF (verbatim in the record as about “$1.37 5”), $100,000 in federal funds that resides in the child support office, and the committee’s $130,000. The chair noted those allocations are subject to the approval of the Human Services chair and that some numbers still need confirmation.
Nixon also flagged a VSAC aspirational initiative that increases the maximum allowable use for a preparation program from $300,000 to $400,000; members said this is a change in spending authority, not new money, and that the bill would appear Monday. Nixon said packet materials would later include additions of language tied to sections and bills referenced as 772, 558 and 938; the chair clarified that bill 558 relates to Medicaid items going to HTV services.
The committee did not take formal votes on these items during the session; staff will work over the weekend to finalize language and figures for the packet and upcoming bill postings. The chair closed the meeting and moved off the live record.
