Social Services panel approves chair's prioritized funding lists, sends them to EAC with several amendments

The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee voted Feb. 9 to adopt the chair's prioritized lists of budget reductions and spending recommendations and forward those lists to the Executive Appropriations Committee (EAC).

Committee members first heard a staff briefing explaining the colored "skinny" and full lists for reductions (green), ongoing (gray), one-time (blue) and opioid-settlement (orange) funding, and the underlined changes since the last printed packet. After about two hours of public comment and a series of amendment motions, the panel agreed on a package to send to EAC.

Committee staff noted that some items were moved between lists and combined (for example, the governor's request for baby watch sustaining early intervention was combined with sustaining special-education infant-and-toddler funding). Staff also said the opioid-settlement request was reduced from $1.6 million to $1.2 million by removing overlapping rural OUD-treatment expansion funding.

During floor amendments the committee voted to add an $886,000 one-time appropriation for victim services (domestic-violence shelters) that had been omitted from a print version; to reduce the Utah Health Artificial Intelligence Vault one-time request from $12.5 million (chair's number) to $6.25 million while requesting a governance study and legislative intent language; and to specify that $1,000,000 recommended for the Behavioral Health Commission be directed toward reopening 30 state-hospital beds.

Chair Ward framed the votes as a process: the lists approved by the subcommittee are "starting recommendations" and will be adjusted by subsequent motions and by EAC. Committee staff added that some chair-recommended reductions require statutory changes and that the chair has an open bill file to enact any necessary statutory language.

The panel concluded by approving the three prioritized lists (ongoing, one-time and opioid settlement) as its recommendation to EAC, and then adjourned. The committee scheduled a follow-up meeting for Wednesday to complete audit-related tasks and paperwork.

Votes at a glance: AZ5'AZ8 (ad-hoc motions) approved unanimously; motion to add long-acting reversible contraception (line 62) to the cut list failed after roll call; AI Vault funding was cut in half and a study requested (motion passed); victim services ($886,000) was added (motion passed); the chair's reduction and prioritized funding lists were approved as the committee's recommendations to EAC (motion passed).

The committee recorded multiple roll calls and recorded varying yes/no tallies in chambers for several motions; those roll-call tallies are included in the official Minutes filed with the Legislature.