House Human Services finalizes FY26 budget-adjustment memo, will present recommendations to Appropriations

House Human Services reviewed and revised a draft FY26 budget-adjustment (BAA) memo and agreed to present it to House Appropriations with targeted edits and recommendations.

Speaker 1 led the session, saying the memo follows the governor's recommendations and the committee's prioritization of FY26 adjustments. The draft was distributed to committee members and to staffers identified in the meeting as Katie and Nolan for editorial review. Speaker 1 said the memo intentionally focused on items the committee considered proper for a FY26 adjustment and excluded requests better suited to the FY27 budget process or those the General Assembly had already considered.

The committee accepted several administration-requested adjustments, including global-commitment (GC) nursing facility payments and accounting for carryforward spending authority, but added clarifying language where members worried an administrative presentation lacked transparency. Members asked that any items not specifically detailed be understood as the committee agreeing with the governor's recommendation.

Key procedural directions the committee will pass to Appropriations include noting uncertainty about retroactive payments for COLA adjustments, requesting explicit BAA language where the committee intends a specific allocation (for example, to particular recovery centers), and asking the administration to explain decisions where general-appropriation underspends appear to have reduced available emergency shelter funds.

Speaker 1 said the finalized memo will be posted to the committee webpage and a key-documents area after editing. The chair plans to present the memo to House Appropriations in the afternoon.

The committee did not record any formal roll-call votes in the transcript for the memo itself; members used a straw poll to indicate preferences on some issues. The committee asked staff to obtain additional documentation and to raise transparency concerns with Appropriations during the presentation.