H.B. 7 Social Services Base Budget: transcript

circled. Madam Reading Clerk House Bill. Seven. Social services based budget by Representative Ward.

Representative Ward. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to circle

Thank you, uh, colleagues. This Bill appropriates the base budget for the all the agencies that are directly overseen by Social Services Appropriations Committee and that essentially is our Department of Health and Human Services. Um, this bill, uh, does a great thing. It reduces our appropriations for the 2026 year by 90 million. So that is a big, uh, cut of 90 million. So we're glad for that. That largely is because of reduced Medicaid, uh, caseload growth, people doing well enough that they no longer, uh, needed Medicaid services. Um, the Bill Appropriates 8.6 billion in total funds. Um, as is usual for our budget that from social services, uh, the smaller amount of that 1.6 billion is General fund. Uh, and then the larger amount is from Federal Match that comes to the state Medicaid program. Um, by far the biggest program in social services budget is Medicaid itself and then Services for Disabilities is the second largest. And then all of our other state related health programs, this is their base budget. Thank you.

Bill HB 2 0 7. This Bill Appropriates, the base budget for the agencies are directly overseen by Social Service Appropriations Committee, the Department of Health and Human Services. As you've heard before, the base budget bill funds DHHS at the same amount as FY 2026 ongoing appropriations. This this, this bill also makes technical changes. The bill reduces the current fiscal year 2026 appropriation by 90.3 million For fiscal 2027 starting in July. This bill appropriates 8.6 billion total funds including 1.6 billion from the general fund and 4.4 million from income tax fund. The largest funding source in this bill is federal funds at a total of seven point billion 7.0 billion in fiscal year 2027. The largest use is for paying Medicaid services to low income clients. This bill reflects a 10 million ongoing deposit into the Medicaid growth Reduction and Budget stipulation account as directed by the Executive Corporations Committee during the 2025 meeting. We, through this session, we'll consider adjustments to the budgets of these agencies. We are currently reviewing 126 possible budget reductions, total 196.5 million ongoing and 40,000,001 time. And we've heard about every single dollar concerns for every single cut. Any approved adjustments will be made on the appropriation bills that we, we consider near the end of the session. Thank you Mr. President.