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Deputy Secretary of State urges keeping special‑fund revenue for IT capital projects
Summary
Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Hibbert told an Appropriations hearing she wants language changed so excess balances in the Secretary of State’s special fund do not automatically revert to the general fund; she said retaining some revenue would allow planned, multi‑year IT investments estimated between $5 million and $12 million.
Lauren Hibbert, deputy secretary of state, asked members of an Appropriations hearing to allow the Secretary of State’s office to retain excess special‑fund revenue so it can plan multiyear IT projects rather than have the money automatically revert to the general fund.
“For the record, my name is Lauren Hibbert. I'm the deputy secretary of state,” Hibbert said. She told committee members the office operates two funds — the Secretary of State Service Fund and the OPR fund — and proposed creating an IT capital fund to support long‑term technology projects.
Hibbert said the office has completed several recent IT builds and that federal grant funding previously used to support system replacements is less certain going forward. “We are budgeting that will be anywhere between five and 12 million over the course of a couple years” to update the OPR system, she said, framing the request as a planning tool to smooth funding for those multiyear costs.
Under the current language, she said, excess revenue in the Secretary of State’s special fund reverts automatically to the general fund. Instead of an automatic reversion, Hibbert asked for an annual, public fall conversation with the Joint Fiscal Committee about the fund’s projected revenues, planned expenditures and how much should return to the general fund. She said the Joint Fiscal Office recommended reporting rather than creating a separate new fund.
Hibbert also gave the hearing a sense of scale for the office’s special‑fund balances, calling this year’s excess roughly $2.5 million and saying the fund has historically ranged from about $1 million to $4 million and has not exceeded $4 million. She cautioned the revenue stream is volatile because most receipts come from business filing fees.
Committee members pressed for detail about whether the language would affect the OPR fund (Hibbert said it would not) and whether reporting language would create meaningful oversight beyond an annual update; Hibbert said the reporting is intended to start and continue a public conversation during the legislative session rather than to be a single event.
Hibbert emphasized the office will continue to participate in standard state procurement and oversight: IT contracts go through the state’s VGS/ADS procurement processes, projects over $1 million include ADS participation, and large projects are reviewed through the state’s project accountability teams (PAT).
Next steps: the office will provide the reporting called for in the proposed language and members signaled they expect to review the matter further with Joint Fiscal in the fall. No formal motion or vote was recorded at the hearing.
