JBC staff says about $2 million sits above reserve after conference changes; tax credits to be checked in June forecast

Craig Harper, JBC staff, told the Joint Budget Committee on April 27, 2026, that recent conference committee actions and placeholder adjustments leave roughly $2 million of General Fund available above the statutory 13% reserve for fiscal year 2627.

"Since the last overview, you've added $6,700,000 to HCPCF, of general fund," Harper said, identifying $3,800,000 related to the IDD wait list and $2,900,000 to exempt additional codes from provider rate reductions. He said an additional $2,200,000 was placed in the budget package to increase the dental cap for all CAC program participants through actions in House Bill 1411.

Harper explained that a revision to a placeholder fiscal note for a Senate bill required a $2,300,000 appropriation and that the revenue reclassification placeholder was increased in the conference process, producing an additional $14,700,000 of General Fund availability under that mechanism. "If you apply ... the amount that's actually available ends up being about $10,500,000 because of the the 13% reserve requirement," he said, walking members through how the dollars move from placeholder increases to appropriable amounts.

After accounting for the $2,300,000 appropriation in the placeholder and the allocations that went into the long bill package, Harper said the committee's modeling left "about $2,000,000" available above the reserve in fiscal year 2627.

Senator Mobley questioned a presentation detail showing a negative transfer to the MMOF, asking, "I just don't understand the eliminate the transfer to MMOF. I don't understand why it's a negative number there." Harper replied that the tables in the memo show general fund obligations and that a negative value reduces the appropriation or transfer out of the General Fund (he noted $10,500,000 as the current-law expectation to transportation funds, including MMOF).

Harper reviewed table-level changes in the memo: Table 2 (general fund obligations), Table 2A (appropriations actually in the long bill package), and Table 2B (placeholders for other legislation). He noted the House postponed House Bill 1365 indefinitely and that several technical conference committee amendments and reclassifications affected the out-year refund and obligation numbers.

On the TABOR refund, Harper said changes to placeholders (notably a Senate bill placeholder discussed in the memo) reduce the refund compared with the long bill narrative by about $308,200,000 in the budget year, and emphasized the degree of uncertainty in revenue forecasts leading into the June revenue forecast.

When members asked whether the committee's apparent $2 million buffer already accounts for tax-credit bills or other tax expenditures, Harper said the Appropriations Report (which uses the March forecast) would not reflect late-session tax-credit changes and that the June forecast would be the appropriate place to see their impact. He said an "approach report" would be available in early July and recommended coordination between JBC staff and forecast staff to measure tax-credit effects.

The committee had no formal votes recorded in this session. After Harper's presentation and a round of member thanks—during which the chair and Harper lauded JBC and caucus staff for their work—the Joint Budget Committee stood in recess while a small number of bill drafts were finalized for the next day.

Next steps: staff will circulate the outstanding bill drafts (Harper said drafts would be provided so members can review them before the following day), and the committee will revisit revenue and tax-credit implications after the June revenue forecast and the forthcoming approach report expected in early July.