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Appropriations committee advances deficiency bill that includes $150 million teachers’ retirement prepayment
Summary
The committee considered House Bill 5031 (joint favorable substitute LCO 3675), which would appropriate a $150 million prepayment to the Teachers' Retirement Board as a mechanism to free spending-cap room; members pressed OFA on funding mechanics and several members objected to treating the payment as a deficiency rather than a new appropriation. Votes were left open until 4:00 p.m.
The Appropriations Committee considered House Bill 5031 — a deficiency appropriations package that includes a $150,000,000 prepayment to the Teachers' Retirement Board intended to create room under the state's spending cap.
Chair (role: Chair) introduced the joint favorable substitute (LCO 3675) and described the prepayment as “one of the mechanisms to get our budget in balance and under the spending cap.” Representative Nuccio questioned whether adding the prepayment to an existing $30,000,000 projected deficit would leave the state with roughly a $180,000,000 shortfall and asked how the added cost would be paid.
Neil Ayers of the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) said the bill itself is silent on a funding source and explained how the change interacts with the spending-cap calculation. “This bill is silent on the source of the funds for this,” Ayers said, adding that bringing an off‑budget item onto the books can rebase the FY2027 cap and thereby increase allowable spending in the next year. He noted that a separate revenue measure (an Evolva revenue proposal passed in a different committee) had been described as intending to be attached to the appropriation.
Some members objected to using a deficiency bill for what they characterized as a new appropriation. Representative Ackert said he considered the $150,000,000 “a new appropriation, not a deficiency adjustment” and said that, if treated as an on‑budget payment, it should be part of the married revenue-appropriation product rather than the deficiency package. The chair responded that prepayments of teacher retirement were used in prior budgets to create spending-cap room and described the approach as not unusual.
Committee clerks began a roll call on LCO 3675. The clerk called many yes and no votes, but the Chair announced that votes would be left open and that the committee would close the record at 4:00 p.m. "I think we're gonna leave the votes open, until after the budget," the Chair said. Because the vote remained open at the end of the session, there was no final tally recorded in committee on the deficiency substitute during this meeting.
What happens next: The clerk left votes open to allow members to call in their votes before 4:00 p.m.; the final disposition of LCO 3675 will depend on those outstanding votes and whether companion revenue measures are combined with the appropriations package on the floor.
