Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: We are live.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Live. This is the conference committee on h September, fiscal year twenty seven budget. It's 1940. No. '19. What am I saying?

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: We could use it being for '14.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah. That would help. Let's get out on time.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Most time turner that we have. Very popular.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Welcome back.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Thank you. Hope you all have a nice weekend. We have some things we can propose closing out, but I'll have a bunch of questions. Oh, things can be cited at. That's not that you've agreed to a great doctor. I think. I can use four? Alright, so we'll use these line numbers to talk about these. Translate you from some other. We were just talking about having to transfer our notes to every spreadsheet. Yeah.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: So,

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: to start, we are willing to agree to adding funds for a policy and the research manager. So these are all treasurer state retirement things. And a lot of the pieces seem to hinge on whether there's this position or not of the policy and research manager. And in conversation, we understand that the state of Vermont has runs pretty lean on all of this. And I think that's why you put that back in. Is that right, Richard? Yes. And that the what I also didn't realize, but I've learned yesterday, is that all three boards of the retirement funds support this to do this. So that was In this section, it's not general. It's not general fund. None none of the ones we put in too. We put in an unclaimed property and a BPIP person. In our budget, we didn't put this in. You added, but none of them are general fund. They're all well, unpinned property, you could argue. Right. Just a

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: up. But the other two don't at all.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: They come strictly out of that, and the board supported those positions. So we we are good with that. We would, however, really like to add back two positions that the senate took out that the house felt strongly about. And one was the mediator position at the state labor relations board, and the other was the the attorney at the ethics commission. Not the language part, but these are the two positions. The mediator, had folks come in and talk to us about that. As you know, the federal government got rid of the 126 federal mediators across the country and school boards and municipal select boards. We always use the federal media for free. And we asked about, well, can't they just pay for it? And what we were told was that attorneys can cost up to $450 an hour and one impasse will kind of wipe out a budget for for any of these organizations. So this felt we felt strongly that this would support municipalities statewide. And so that's why we think it's important to add that back. How much was that? 100% around you. Is that 150%? Approximately 150% for each. That's one hundred fifty and one is 130. Yeah. Or $1.40 or something like that. Yeah. Between the two. And then the ethics commission, you know, they we the the legislature has given them additional work. Two years ago, we asked them to do municipal work. They were so overwhelmed. They couldn't do the work and had to stop doing the things that they required to do. You know, this is this is a organ of commission that has been underfunded from the beginning. And, you know, my feeling is that we either say we're gonna have an ethics commission or not have an ethics commission. If we're gonna have an ethics commission, we need to have minimal staffing to do the work that we're asking them to do. So we felt pretty strongly that the, I guess it's called a staff investigator position, staff attorney, and they would be supporting municipalities and other work that needs to be done as an attorney. So it isn't just just limited to. So we had language in the house version of the budget that explained that, you know, education and training and support and answering questions for municipalities who are always asking about those things. And not only municipalities asking questions, but individual members of the legislature asking. Or is it a public? Or the public.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: So And would you want your language that the House had about the manual? No. And this would be a full time position? Yes. That is with the executive director's. Yes. Yes. This would

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: be the only full time position. I think the the language that the house had put in at the request of members of the judiciary and other places, I don't think there was enough time for anybody to take any testimony. And so while I support in concept what they're trying to do, I don't feel comfortable that I know enough about it to sit here and and argue for it. And I'm not sure that the senate took any testimony about it either. So I think that's something that we need to work on. But it needs some time to work on it, not just be put in our budget. So we've agreed to not the language, but add in a position

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: to that. So are you kind of saying like, reading into what you said, is that you're okay with two through five if we also Right. Rehearse the situation. On six, etcetera. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Can talk about

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: that. Okay. That would be great.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: So all all your proposals, we'll we'll talk about them. Yes. Right.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Unless we're gonna just straight out agreeing with you without any other. There might be something like that.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: There might be one of those. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Just for fun. We'll hold on the renter rebate because that's in another committee of conference. And then the next three, nine through 12, you're adding general fund to increase court security at $60 an hour and then buying back 50% of vacancy savings for state's attorneys, crime victim advocates, and sheriffs. We would be okay with that, and we think it's really important to add back a 100,000 for the Center for Crime Victim

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Services. So I sort

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: of see that as a package. They need the grants administration. And I know there was some talk of transferring some money from the network and that, I'm not sure how doable that is, but it's also that money. Right. They need that money too. So, you know, we wanted to keep the two separate and have this money back to that issue.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. We'll talk about it, but that's likely to be the truth. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Down on lines twenty four and twenty seven, that's related to bridges to health. Technical correction to move it to three twelve and then to reduce it from 500 to $3.50. We can agree to those. We we got enough good information that said that they can they can live to three fifty.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. So would you check that?

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: So we would agree to twenty four and twenty seven. And we'll get back to you on the

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: on reduction conversation.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: On the next page, thirty six and thirty seven are part of a whole retirement physician package. The first page, right? This is more of that because they have to go, we have to split the salary over all those places. So that's more of that same package. We can agree to slide 56, reducing funding for grants. I know they've been a great program. I think we started funding that during COVID. We started before COVID. Did we? Yeah. We gave it a lot during COVID, remember. We did, but I I'm it pretty sure it started about 2018. Oh, did it? Okay. And it's been very successful.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah, yeah.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Big piece And it's gone in lots of places and certainly not rigid. I support it, but I think we can manage with what we have.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah, given the Given the other means.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Right, right. So we can agree to that. The first generation, not first time, first generation home buyer, that came out of How did you How did that come up? It didn't come up from us

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: with It came from our economic development or in house the economic development house that he had in there. Oh, okay. And they with one of the priorities, like I said. Okay. And it was one of their lower cost of rent.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: That's true.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: And it's not. This is the 100,000. The 100,000.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: HHS said that is that right? It's the homelessness alliance of So that would make that kind of down payment assistance available to about seven households. Which felt to me like, I just didn't know what a $100,000 buys, but it actually, seven, and that is significant enough. I think.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah. So

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: we're okay. Think we're gonna

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I think it's hard for first time. Well, it's first generation,

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: which is not necessarily the same as first time. So I have to keep I keep saying it wrong,

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: but it's still hard. It's all really hard for It is. That group of people to get up. That's right. And closing costs and

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yeah. And then once you get into having a home, then you're sort of in that flow of that system. But getting into the system is really hard. And harder and harder in these days, as we know. So, yeah. Do do you wanna explain this South Hero? Circles to 25,000.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah. That was brought to the community by one of our members to support that organization that's moving to a new. Mhmm. And so the $25,000 would help with that. Mhmm. I'll set up that new bill. See that.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Do Mhmm. They bless you? They

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: provide funding. They do fundraising, and they do sales and work in the field. That's what they need the space for, and then they use that money to to Close or something like that? They do general, like, purchasing sales, and I think other things in there. Maybe there's food shelf in there. And then they use the money to support community Yeah. And needs. Maybe they use the raise the money for this itself, but the job was an end there. Right. That was the

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Right. And probably every community in the state has Every community has something like that. Right. That's kind of my concern of singling out one. Right. That happens in my community at that point. Yeah. Lots of places.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: And did you say there's programming?

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yes. The community Building community. Building communities grants, which are $25,000 each. They may not get it for this summer, but they would get they could apply for that and be. So, I feel that there are other places for that to be and that would not be appropriate in the budget. So, we're not inclined to do that. Okay. You know, it sort of opens the door for every variety of things. Yes. Being so specific. Right. So that's, we're opposition to that. Okay. Could you just explain again about the Vermont Law School? And I know the SBDC. I'm familiar with them and that there's a match, the federal funds that they won't get unless they have a 150. So I'm on line sixty one and sixty two.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: The law school was from the economic development committee's bill on economic development, non housing, because this is they provide it's kinda like one of their law clinics. They they provide small business developments or so it's a hiring a lawyer for $450 that pretend you could call the law school and raise all the help those businesses do whatever legal needs that they have. So it was seen as an economic development tool for low cost, and they had some federal money. That's thought they were stemming, but a lot of federal money is not coming or it's in limbo. Can't remember exactly the details on there, but there was a shortfall because of federal. Right. And so this would be a one time that That's hold them over to to figure out the pickup. It's a $100,100,000.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: That was a 100 and then a 150 for the SBDC, and that was to bring down the federal match?

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yes. Is that right? Yes. Alright. So we can go back to our notes.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: So sort of scattered throughout here is information. I think there were things that were pulled out of the T Bill and put in the budget. So non medical transports, pilot for state and town highways. There was 3,000,000 one time for something else, and some of that whole transportation thing, and I wonder if you could sort of walk us through that, the 7525 and the pilot and the TIB, and they may not all be aligned here, but.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: You wanna do that? You you can I can swallow as I can because I don't care if you wanna do it? We can I'm happy to It'd probably be better to do talk about the pilot construct, but the nonmedical nonemergency medical transport is also separate issue. Separate issue. We got that in the budget last year. We provided some funding to help get more volunteers. So this is is basically the same thing to support all the transportation agencies around the state. Most of the public transit agencies around the state, each was gonna be volunteer drivers, individuals. We put 600,000 in last year to bring them together to create a central place where they started doing stuff. They brought the hospitals together in this past year. They brought the public transit agencies together. There's a myriad of issues that go on. They've approached Rural Health Transformation grants. They approach them because there's no central computer system whereby they're looking back. So for example, in St. Johnsbury where the dialysis was in Lancaster and St. Johnsbury, and they stopped doing dialysis in St. Johnsbury. RCT had in one morning three different individuals that they had to transport separately because there was no coordination where they could bring them. They're working on the issues of how they create an item, how would you get money and create a bank. They also have done a whole bunch of advertising that is together now, and trying to increase the number of drivers. We had a huge drop off in the number of volunteer drivers with our other transit agencies during COVID. Okay. Their brochure, one of the things that they use with money is to create like a common brochure that they're different agencies.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yeah. This is to take Medicaid patients to doctor's appointments or dialysis or precepts or things like that. Exactly. Exactly. That would just sort of be understanding.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Well, it's a piece of that, but this is to recruit the drivers that Right. They're sent to That's

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: right. Because anybody can use it. There are lots of people who don't have cars. Yeah. Or a driver. Or a driver. And I've got

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: an older parent that's 85 years old and not able to drive now. Right. Where do they go and have a visa? And with the consolidation of healthcare services across rural Rimon, public transit agencies are getting more and more requests. This is to continue the effort that was started last year the 600,000. They asked for way more than the 300, but this is to continue that whole effort. And now that they're all talking together, the hospitals and the providers and the public transit agencies and all of that, how do we, we're gonna have to build on this. Yeah. They went to AMT and asked for money to hire drivers. Uh-huh. And AMT has some challenges that they're like, well, we don't have any money to do that. Okay. Weird. That's why we wanted to some general focus. Yeah. And as we all know is that healthcare and we squeeze rural hospitals and what you can provide, question comes if you're going to do that, how do you get people in? And we met in senate transportation with our health and welfare committee. And and so this was, you know, senate transportation with our health and welfare community working with us. Yeah. To talk about this. That's that's that's 300. Okay. Great. That's the three kind of The pilot concert, there's three new

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: I have a question on Well, I Wouldn't that be a perfect problem for the rural transformation project?

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: They are. You can't you can't use rural transportation or things that already exist. But what you can do is new and innovative biographers. Like the coordination of So all if we're looking at going forward in the future and there was an IT system that brought the booking of appointments closer between the public transit agencies and the medical providers, that you could get through rural transformation. But you can't get rural transformation money to recruit drivers for growth in So that's the drawing. Are now having the Transportation Committee in the Senate met with Joan Mazz Oleson to talk about, and they are having a discussion about how do we push those medical providers with the public transit agencies to better coordinate their service, and is that money that we could use them? So that discussion was going on. So if we can keep those discussions going and the advertising to get more workers together with this 300.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: You get the whole picture. Yeah, yeah, okay. Sounds like they're looking down every path they can.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. So the pilot fund, it's Yeah. We could give you a long lecture about the needs of town highways funding with bridges and town paving and all things around the town. It's not being able to raise money to maintain their roads. We have a program in a t AOT has several programs that helps towns, but AOT is cutting back on that. So we're trying to get money to help the town. So there's a one time $3,000,000 from the five fund to the cheaper town highway programs. There's three different programs. And then there's a construct that we have that's an ongoing use of out funds. It's 75% of surplus funds in the file that go to these town highway, the town road road road road road road road road

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Right. And then the third thing is the utilize additional available TIP funds. Is that is that instead of Town Highway? That's for bridge and paving. So how how do

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: those be all worked out? TIP funding issue is a different issue. Okay. You in the house budget, you took 1.7, and you move them into ongoing expenses. The money that comes out of the TIP bond by statute can only be used for something that has a long term, a twenty to thirty year Because of bond idea. Because it's a bonded idea. That and that and to do what the house did, they not withstood the statute around the. Yeah. Is with that attempt to move money and not and and move the money into long term expenditures so we don't have to not We have we have different projects that meet the TIP requirements, so let's just move money over there and then use other money.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: I see. Okay. So this is

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: 1.7 general fund that was in the TIP. It was Tivon Fund that was in the It was in the Tivon Fund. Okay. Yeah. And we you and the house moved into, I believe, into direct aid to towns. Mhmm. And that is I see. It is Might not be funny here, Katie. No. It definitely is not, and it's and so what we and this is just on the side of it. One of the things that we're investigating in the Teaville in the House is we ask the administration to come back with new budgets next year. Uh-huh. One that does bond bonding Yeah. And one that doesn't. And if you not withstand the statute as you're trying to investigate whether or not to do bonding, that would probably not set well with a standard of course. And are you, Emily, are you considering all three of the all three of those even in line 66? No. No. No. So where is the

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: The tip, I think, is on line 41. It's it's in the regular space.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: At least. I see. Yeah. Are you? Yeah. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yeah. So you have line 40.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: At 40 and 41.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: At 41. So tell us about

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: that one. So what we did is we moved all of the 1.7 into Gucci's. 41 is different.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Right. So, okay, I think I'm clear. Are you sort of clear on the tip? Yeah. As much as we're gonna ever be clear on the tip. It's 1.7, though, but it's in the base. Yeah. It's not one time.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: It yes. Because you took 1.7 in the house's construct. You took that out and put it in the aid for the township, which is an ongoing expense.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: It was in the TIF,

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: they paid money out of TIF? It was a surplus within the TIF bond. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: So they it was right. So putting it back into base makes sense. It doesn't mean they were gonna be doing 1.7 every year.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: And these are construction projects that, you know, this bridge costs 8,000,000, this costs 4,000,000. Right. And so that budget is always delayed. Right. Okay. So But that does in that line item is it puts it toward a long term experience. Right. Line 41 was to support the drive electric of Vermont, which is effort to promote vehicles and transportation in The States. A contract with this is at the drug service amount Yeah. For years. And with AFT's reduction of funds, they were cutting that in contract. So we we found some other funds that that to to get them enough money to go through the next fiscal year.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: So I've I've been to the website a lot and looked at cars and all those sorts of things. What what exactly are they doing?

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: What does the money get used to? It's the maintenance of the website. I think it pays the staff, helps to pay the staff person. And so it's it's mainly to main maintain the website and to have a person that is doing that or to promote it and get connections.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Can that person answer questions if somebody calls? Do they Yeah.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Vermonters or does it That that person definitely answers our questions when he comes in and we've had other questions and he's responsible. I I can't remember if on the website it says email. They have email. I think it does, but I would have to, like, check to see if they do that. I would assume so, but I can't I don't know. Best website to figure out what charging stations in front of you.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yeah. Yes.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: And there's a tool, and they have to keep it, you know, updating the tools. The federal government changes and as the vehicles change, and I like, my sister was looking for electric car, she was in Washington State, which has a good pretty good electric vehicle program. Mhmm. And she said, oh, you're I just sent you to Vermont site. She thought it was better. She was like, that was much more helpful than that than Washington. Okay. And they have enough in their budgets with the order of the year. They didn't have enough for the full year. And there was an appropriation from the administration that covered, and I'm losing a little of it. This is the piece that would get So that they can get actual one year work? One year work. Okay. And it's really hatched together by partial appropriation, some carry forward for them, and then this money Okay. Happens next year? Yeah.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Does this appear in the one time section as well? We're reducing the transportation fund in order

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: to do this. Right? It's coming from the transportation fund.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Which is where it's always come from. Yes? Yes. So we're thinking it's only a one time thing to this group.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I think it's always a Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: I have a technical point. It was I understand why it's not in the 1,100 section. I think it's the way it interacts with the T Bill itself. Think the one time instructions are in the T Bill. So it's all related to T Bill itself as opposed to a separate law that occurs in general.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. Right. I don't think it's this electric body's ever been a big bill before. It's obviously

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yeah. That's why we have seen it before. Yeah. We had to right. We had to true up the nine zero three to match

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: the instructions in the TL.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: So that's all that that

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: b nine zero three does is replace. And this was in the, when we took it out the books and budget to make sure it was It happened. Okay. So, I think your question about what happens after Yeah. We were towards the end of the process and it was, you know, we wanted to make sure they were all to be sure. Yeah. And we can discuss it going forward. Okay, but that would be the transportation committee to discuss that going forward. Yes. How they

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: would control that. Okay. Yeah. So maybe we wouldn't see it in the budget again. Okay. So will you explain the pilot and the $75.25?

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: 3,000,000 of the restraint, which are pretty good. That's 75% of the surplus funds would also go to create this special funding. Yeah. I mean, 3,000,000 would be put in the special fund, and then 75% surplus in future years would also go to the special fund that would support.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Okay. So the 3,000,000 wouldn't necessarily be granted out immediately in the first year.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: It would be. It would go to EMT and then they would grant that.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: They would grant that out. And that's just a one time

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah. Appropriation. Just meet the need that's there now. Yeah. And then to have some future money that we don't wouldn't cut create a special fund if we're just gonna do it once.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Yes. Exactly.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: So going forward, there's surplus in the. Yeah. Especially if I'm just supporting the.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: And it's the surplus of of whatever the income and expenses were for the year, not any leftover from previous years. It's it's not a ton of money, but it's stuff money.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I think what per the estimate for next year was, like, under a $100,000. Yeah. Or Yeah. 40. Yeah. Was very small. If it grew, it would it Yeah. It's a it would take groups like the league and say, we're doing exactly what you want, sending the money back to town. Right. It sends it it would send it to all towns by formula. Right. Really, the only place that we have a formula that hands money back to town, that is a long standing formula, is the town highway aid. Town highway aid gives money per road class, per mile, per so it's the only place that treats all towns the city. So this special fund would use the same formula? It would use that formula to send the money out in a way that we've done for every Right. But I might say as a backup to that, the state has seen 60% increase in cost of road construction. And the communities have all felt that same construction cost increase. And we have, you know, this year in the T Bill, the increase in town of Highway 8 is 2.7% without this. Town Highway 8 goes to the towns that they have flexibility to use it. They could use it for fading or or Right. Ditching that they can use it to with their their road safety. To treat everyone the same.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: No. I I understand. Okay.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I've got all goals for us. I think this is valid point. Oh. I'm not believe that this is the

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: valid point. I'm gonna be going all around the room. We have to go pass out some bills. Let me just see if there's anything else you want me to quickly ask you about. That's us. There's a bunch we need to hold for other committees of conference. There's some that we need to talk about altogether, like higher ed stuff. Should see. No. We're holding for 09:38.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Let's see.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Oh, well, I am curious on line a 108. Why remove the reporting language on the tech mod funds? I think you had some reporting language in there if

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: you could get

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: that because we really wanna know we wanna try to understand it better.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I don't remember. I have to get back to you. Okay. That would be great.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Was gonna say, I thought the reporting language was on the CIT fund. Oh, I

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: No. None of us.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Wait. My thought I've never seen something. Too. Grady.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Grady Nixon, New York Pistol. So in the house construct, there was a a conditional transfer of excess interest from, the tech fund to the CIT fund. Ultimately, it was technically corrected to be an actual number from the tech fund to, the transfer, and then the transfer from the TechMon Fund to the CIT Fund was removed. This related to the reporting on that transfer.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Okay. But not I think there was some other we'll go back and look. Yeah. So we may not need it.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: There's deficit mitigation language on the c r

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: On the c still r

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: in the Right.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Okay. Alright. Just need

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: to look at that so maybe you can show me that so I can start. Okay. Okay. Actually, we've got a bigger view of the deficit. Right.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Right. Let's see. We talked about lines one hundred twenty five and twenty six. And 126 are the language related to the mediator and the ethics So those would all go together. And then also on line one thirty one, that would change. That would Yeah. That would stay at three fifty, and then we do the other one one hundred. So those are all kind of related. It's a bunch of healthcare stuff. It's of all together. Oh, the supervisor visitation on line 141. So we had added additional money and said, go forth and expand into new sites. But it turns out, I think we found out that that was sort of gonna fill up and give the the ones that already existed enough money to do their work. So if you change the allocation, direct it to the existing supervised visitation sites, and I and I think we're fine with that. Yeah. So we will agree on one forty one.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: There is a a whole correction to that section. Okay. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Thank you. There's also line one forty six as part of

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: the package.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Line one forty eight, the Lands and Facilities Trust Fund to allow for up to 8% distribution. That sounds fine. We can agree to that. I'm not Oh,

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: I'm done. Okay.

[Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (Chair, House Ways & Means)]: Bunch of this local options for verification. And then on the last page, lines one fifty five and one fifty seven go together. This is reducing the compensation of state's attorney to provide a law license or authorization to tax law by 30%. We agree with that. And we also agree with that being effective on path to slide 157. Okay. So that's it for the morning.

[Sen. Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: We're gonna meet at 03:30. We'll meet at 03:30. Okay. We will have a response to all the