Joint appropriations committee advances FY2027 fee bill with grouped vote, sending package to the floor

The Joint Committee on Appropriations met April 28 to review the FY2027 general appropriations (fee) bills and related implementing bills and voted to advance a grouped package to each chamber.

Staff told the committee the fee bill package appropriates approximately $17,960,000,000 from the general fund for fiscal year 2027, including $228,000,000 to shore up the state employee health insurance plan and one‑time increases such as $200,000,000 to school facilities for building renewal grants and other targeted supplements for childcare assistance, education weights and corrections stipends. The proposal applies a 5% lump‑sum reduction to the non‑formula discretionary base of most general‑fund agency budgets; mandatory formula funding (for example K‑12 basic state aid) and certain agencies are excluded.

Committee staff clarified the cuts are designed to be implemented by the executive: mandatory and formula allocations are not subject to the 5% reduction, while agencies will decide specific line‑item reductions inside their discretionary bases. Staff said three agencies are exempt from the lump‑sum reduction: the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Child Safety. Staff also said the package includes a series of fund reverts and lapses intended to recover unspent, non‑lapsing appropriations identified in prior years.

After the staff presentations and more than two hours of member questioning and public testimony, senators moved to group the Senate bills into a single mass recommendation and took a roll‑call; the senate recorded 6 ayes and 4 no’s and gave the grouped package a due‑pass recommendation. The House adopted a matching mass motion to group the corresponding House bills; after an extended member debate and explanations of vote the House roll call recorded 11 yes, 7 no. Both bodies’ committee recommendations now send the grouped package to each chamber’s floor calendar for further consideration.

The committee set two‑minute limits for most public commenters on the fee bill and heard more than a dozen witnesses on issues ranging from university encumbrances and rural flood recovery to SNAP eligibility and health‑care eligibility procedures. The package also includes several implementing bills on health care, human services, K‑12, higher education, capital outlay and taxation/conformity intended to make the appropriations and programmatic changes operational.

The committee’s action does not finalize policy. The package now moves to floor debate in each chamber and could be altered in negotiations with the governor; committee leaders said mass grouping was chosen to expedite moving the many implementing items that staff described as baseline or carry‑forward language.