Committees leave bills pending; Finance votes out supplemental appropriations bill

As is the norm with most committees, especially early in the session, most bills heard in Tuesday's and Wednesday's hearings were left pending. An important finance bill was heard and voted out of the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.

SB 30 by Senate Finance Chair Joan Huffman is the supplemental appropriations bill. A supplemental appropriations bill is filed every session to authorize additional expenditures during the current biennium, often to adjust amounts approved in the previous session or address unanticipated costs. (The normal appropriations bill approves expenditures for the upcoming two-year period beginning Sep. 1, 2023.)

SB 30 includes $600 million in additional funding to school districts for school safety enhancements, and $1 billion for an unspecified increase in retiree benefits (the details would be provided in separate legislation, and this amount is likely to only be part of the final benefit package). The bill also decreased overall state funding to school districts by more than $8 billion due to increases in local property tax collections and decreases in student attendance.