Senate Finance Committee chair lays out "chair's proposal" to balance FY27 budget

The Senate Finance Committee reviewed a chair's construct of the FY27 budget during a committee meeting in which Emily Gardner of the Joint Fiscal Office walked members through line-by-line changes and options for a contingency list.

Gardner said the document is "the chair's proposal" and stressed it is not a final budget but "my honest my efforts to get to a balanced budget. We lost a little bit of money there," language she used to describe efforts to close the gap while preserving priority items. She said the construct assumes alignment with the House on several miscellaneous tax-bill positions and therefore should be updated if conferees change those bills.

Why it matters: Gardner reported about $28.1 million of base funding would be available for one-time investments under the construct — a bit more than the House version but less than the governor's. Committee members were asked to review the spreadsheet and prepare for a straw vote to finalize a clean copy for the next meeting.

Key program and line-item changes: Gardner and the chair…