Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Appropriations Process topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House Appropriations panel reviews anonymized FY27 priorities and seeks clarifications on major requests
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee reviewed an anonymized ranking of FY27 appropriation requests March 18, asking staff and presenters for clarifications on items including Meals on Wheels, VHCB requests, and several agency staffing lines before finalizing recommendations.
Chair opened the House Appropriations Committee on March 18 and said the session would review anonymized prioritization sheets prepared by staff to guide the committee’s FY27 recommendations. "This is the house appropriations committee," the Chair said as members received the sheets and discussed timing for later floor work.
Staff told the committee that James Duffy compiled the updated submissions and that the sheets showed proposals in the order of unweighted votes across members and tiers. "As James Duffy joined fiscal, as the chair said, we have in front of you your updated submissions for the ranking exercises," staff said, and urged members to flag corrections so the list can be tweaked for minor vote changes.
Committee members asked for detail on how dollar amounts were reported, noting some items were presented as global-commitment requests while others listed general fund splits. Staff used the food bank and Meals on Wheels as examples: different submissions proposed amounts ranging from $500,000 to $5,000,000 depending on buckets and program splits. Members asked for clearer breakdowns so that decisions would not unintentionally omit providers because of coding differences.
Several line items prompted follow-up requests rather than immediate decisions. Staff and members noted that some asks were already represented in bills before the Legislature — for example, rental-arrears and tenant‑landlord liaison funding are contained in H772 and certain housing items are tied to S328 — and the committee flagged them for cross-checking so they are not double‑counted in the committee’s appropriation list.
The Chair asked staff to produce copies of the anonymized ranking for all committee members and to follow up on specific numeric clarifications (budget codes, general-fund splits and where items referenced GovRec or onetime funding). Before moving to the next agenda item, the Chair thanked staff and volunteers and closed the prioritization review. The committee then moved on to scheduled Medicaid business.
