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Committee approves technical fix for community college capital appropriation; adds allied‑health flexibility
Summary
The Public Works and Highways committee voted to recommend SB 497 as amended, correcting language in last year’s capital budget to apply community college expenditure rules to a repurposed appropriation and to allow a respiratory‑therapy renovation to be retitled for allied health equipment; amendment and final recommendation were approved in executive session.
Senate Bill 497, which corrects language in the 2025 capital budget to ensure a community college IT infrastructure project is governed by the Community College System’s policies rather than state agency procurement rules, won committee approval on March 24, 2026.
Sen. Claire Ruad introduced the bill and said she was present only to introduce it. Shannon Reid, director of government affairs for the Community College System of New Hampshire, told the Public Works and Highways committee that the measure is a technical correction to House Bill 25 of 2025 intended to remove boilerplate language that incorrectly attached Department of Administrative Services/Bureau of Public Works requirements to funding that was intended to be expended under the community college trustees’ policies. “Senate Bill 497 corrects a technical oversight in House Bill 25 of 2025, the state capital budget,” Reid said.
Reid also described an amendment (1031H) drafted at the community college’s request to change the title of a previous respiratory‑therapy appropriation so the funds may be used for a more flexible allied‑health instructional center (no change in the dollar amount). She said the change will allow the purchase of equipment that can serve respiratory therapy as well as other allied‑health programs and better align the appropriation with workforce needs.
Representative questions focused on whether the change altered dollar amounts and which pages of House Bill 25 were affected; Reid reiterated that the amounts do not change and that the bill speeds a technical correction that otherwise would be handled at lapse time.
In executive session the committee adopted amendment 1031H (moved by Representative Jack) and then voted a recommendation of “ought to pass as amended.” The clerk recorded the amendment vote as “12 in the affirmative, zero in the negative, four not voting,” and later announced the OTPA vote with 12 affirmative and five not voting. (The clerk’s second announcement used “Senate Bill 424” in the roll call; the committee had been considering SB 497.)
The committee closed the record and recessed. The bill proceeds with the committee recommendation and the amendment that broadens the instructional use of the prior respiratory‑therapy appropriation.
Next steps: the report will be carried to the floor per the committee’s customary process; the amendment and the committee recommendation are reflected in the committee record.
