JBC approves bill to shore up digital trunk radio trust, moves LLS 0807 to introduction

The Joint Budget Committee approved a bill draft aimed at ensuring ongoing maintenance and support of the state’s digital trunk radio system by moving unencumbered revolving fund balances into a trust and clarifying permissible uses.

Tom Dermody, JBC staff, presented the draft (LLS 0807) that would amend statute to allow the trust to be used for both disbursements to agencies and for maintenance of the statewide radio infrastructure. Michelle Curry said the draft also transfers any unencumbered balance in the revolving fund at fiscal‑year end into the trust to build a stable maintenance base; she noted the committee could preserve a modest reserve in the revolving fund if it preferred.

Committee members debated whether to transfer the entire balance or leave a reserve to ease future supplemental requests; Representative Taggart suggested clarifying the revolving fund’s purpose in statute for better public understanding. The bill was moved for introduction and passed unanimously by the committee; sponsors and co‑sponsors were assigned to run the bill with the long bill.

Why it matters: the change would provide a clearer statutory mechanism to fund maintenance and unforeseen repairs for the statewide public safety radio system and reduce the need for ad‑hoc supplemental transfers.

What’s next: bill LLS 0807 will be introduced and run with the long bill; staff will refine language if the committee asks for a reserved amount to remain in the revolving fund.