H.B. 249 Federal Funds Modifications

What this bill does

The bill directs the Legislative Fiscal Analyst to send the federal-funds portion of the state's budget stress tests to the Federalism Commission for review, and lets that commission make recommendations to the Executive Appropriations Committee if it finds risks. It also provides money for Utah State University to build a dashboard showing the state's fiscal health and its reliance on federal funds.

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Your legislators on this bill

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Every vote

• 6 yes, 0 no, 6 absentHouse Government Operations Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 13, 2026Who voted how
• 69 yes, 1 no, 5 absentFinal House vote · Feb 23, 2026
• 3 yes, 0 no, 4 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to approve it · Mar 2, 2026Who voted how
• 26 yes, 1 no, 2 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 4, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 13, 2026 House Government Operations Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (13 turns)

  1. Committee chair41:46

     All right. We're gonna move to item number two, HB 2 49. First substitute from Representative Roberts Federal Funds modifications. And representative, you're, you can start whenever you're ready. We'll, we'll just wait.

  2. Rep. Calvin R. Roberts42:06

     Great. Well, thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Um, so colleagues, this bill came out of some work the Federalism Commission did. Um, and I, I believe Mr. Vice Chair, you're on that commission with me. But this was a, some work we did around assessing the fragility of our budget in relationship to federal funds. So, two facts. Number one, the, um, social Security Trust Fund is projected at this point to be insolvent over the next several years. And if you look at the total interest expense as a percentage of the federal government, it, it'll end up being 25% of tax receipts over the next several years. And what that means is we're on a sustain an unsustainable path at the federal government level. The challenge for us at the state is many of our funding comes from the federal government. And so all this bill is trying to do is two things. Number one, um, it, it directs LFA, and we've worked closely with LFA to, uh, send the federal fund portions of their, uh, budget stress testing to the Federalism Commission for review. Um, and if there's challenges or risks associated with some of that federal funding, it allows the federalism commission to make recommendations for EAC. So it's just putting some extra eyes on the risks that our state budget, uh, has associated with federal funds. And then the second thing it does is it, it, it, uh, allocates some money, um, to basically create a federal dependency dashboard. And, again, have worked with LFA on what that could look like, but it, it has Utah State and some of their super quant math guys, uh, who would help the state put together a dashboard around just the fiscal health of the state and our relationship to federal funds. So, fairly simple. Bill, with that, that concludes my presentation open to questions.

  3. Committee chair44:12

     Thank you. Do we have any questions from, uh, members of the committee?

  4. Unknown speaker44:20speaker not certain

     I, I, I will, I will just say that, uh, as a member of the Federalism Commission and as a worried citizen, I, I so look forward to this, uh, bill passing and then seeing this, uh, this dashboard that the analytics center is gonna put together for us. 'cause it will be, I think it will be an awesome, wonderful tool. So thanks for doing this.

  5. Committee chair44:41

     Did I have a, did I see a question show up? Yes. Representative Cutler.

  6. Rep. Paul A. Cutler44:47

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, just could you speak about the recommendation to go to EAC as opposed to a wider, what, what, how do you see, how do you envision this process coming, uh, happening and, and why alert EAC and not the full legislator legislature?

  7. Rep. Calvin R. Roberts45:06

     Well, in the original draft, we had a, a much broader process in place. Um, one of the, one of the good members of EAC had a bill that was gonna address some of the federal funds that our body actually voted out on. And there was some duplication there, so we ended up pulling it out in this sub. Um, but the idea is just to have a second pair of eyes on the federal funds that are coming into the state. Oftentimes, like we as a state have the ability to prioritize, uh, that money. And this just gives a second pair of eyes and a recommendation to EAC. Could we go to the broader legislature, I suppose, but all our, all of our budget making process happens with EAC. So it didn't feel like, like that would be fruitful. Does that answer your question?

  8. Committee chair45:54

     Thank you. All right. Any other questions from our committee? I don't see any of anyone online. Okay. We can ask. And then, and then are there, uh, are there, uh, any members of the public who would like to speak to this bill? Okay. Then we will bring it back to the committee for a motion or clarifying questions.

  9. Committee chair46:28

     You've been on the roll Representative Cutler, so I don't know if you're

  10. Rep. Paul A. Cutler46:35

      Mr. Chair. I am happy to, uh, favorably recommend HB 2 49 first substitute, uh, to the full house federal funds modification.

  11. Committee chair46:52

      The first substitute was already adopted, right? It is, yeah. And Rules adopted. Yep. Thank you. Would you like to speak to that?

  12. Rep. Paul A. Cutler47:02

      I'll waive. Okay.

  13. Committee chair47:04

      Okay, then, uh, I'm gonna restate the motion. He waived. I waived, Yeah. Aye. So the motion is that we recommend favorably HB 2 49 sub one to the full body. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Perfect. Great rule. That motion unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair passed out. So thank you.

• Feb 23, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (12 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker1:39:37

     Your substitute house bill 2 49 Federal funds modifications by Representative Roberts. This bill was serving government operations with the vote of 6 0 6.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:39:47

     Representative Roberts.

  3. Rep. Calvin Roberts1:39:49

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Pro TE colleagues, $8.5 billion of our budget comes from the federal government. But the problem with that is over the next several years, 25% of the federal revenues will be consumed by interest expense. So that obviously adds risk to certain components of our budget. What this bill does before you today, we worked on it with the Federalism commission over the interim and with LFAs, it's, it does two things. Number one, it creates a process to create a fiscal health dashboard, which will allow us to better assess risk as it's related to the federal government revenues. And then number two, it creates a simple process whereby LFA gives budget stress test information to the federalism commission for review. Who can then work with EAC on some of those items. And with that, Mr. Speaker pro tem, I yield.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:40:46

     Thank you, Representative Roberts discussion to the bill. Representative Ivory

  5. Rep. Ken Ivory1:40:52

     Thank Mr. Speaker ProAm. I rise in support of this. This is, uh, federalism commission, uh, approved legislation. And I won't belabor the point, but just so that we know, uh, the Social Security Trust fund and the Medicare trust funds are scheduled to be completely depleted in five and a half years. And when we ask our members of Congress, what are they doing about it? They say they can't even talk about it in DC and their only plan is to continue to monetize until this hits the states, we need to be planning for these types of contingencies and encourage a body support.

  6. Speaker (presiding)1:41:31

     Thank you, Representative Ivory. Further discussion to the bill of Representative Hansen.

  7. Rep. Leah Hansen1:41:36

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker ProAm. Will the sponsor yield to a question

  8. Speaker (presiding)1:41:40

     Sponsor yield? Yes, go ahead.

  9. Rep. Leah Hansen1:41:42

     Thank you Mr. Speaker ProAm, this looks like a great bill, however, I just have a question regarding, um, the organization that will be doing this study. Is there any reason why the Analytic Solutions center at Utah State University, um, Huntsman School of Business needs to be the one doing the study? Isn't there anyone else that could do it or are there others that could do it in, um, as well?

  10. Rep. Calvin Roberts1:42:06

      It's a great question. The Utah State, uh, university has an incredible department with computer science and data analytics. And during the interim, we worked with various public institutions, higher ed institutions to find the right fit. And they had the right department and personnel we think to execute, uh, on the project. So that's why we went with them.

  11. Rep. Leah Hansen1:42:29

      Thank you Mr. Speaker. Pro time.

  12. Speaker (presiding)1:42:31

      Thank you Representative Hansen. Further discussion to the bill. See none Representative Roberts for summation, I'll waive. Summation is waived. Voting is open on first substitute house bill 2 49, federal funds modifications. Representative Ivory, Representative Ivory. We'd like to vote seeing all president having voted voting will be closed. First substitute house bill 2 49, having received 69 yay votes and one nay vote passes the house and be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration matter. Meeting clerk

• Mar 2, 2026 Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Rep. Calvin R. Roberts1:42:44

     We think we'll do great things for, for, uh, the, the, the community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  2. Justin Lee, Utah League of Cities and Towns1:42:52

     Justin Lee, deputy Director Utah League of Cities Towns. Um, when this was first in the house, we approached a sponsor with some concerns we had about the bill. Uh, there was some clarifications we needed in order to, uh, work through this. He sat down with us and our engineers and made those clarifications that we needed, uh, working through how quickly the water had to be, um, drained from those, those basins. Um, some clarification around timelines, and with that bill we've moved to, or with those changes, we moved to neutral on that bill. Thank

  3. Committee chair1:43:20

     You, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other public comment? Any seeing no other public comment? I'll bring it back to the committee for, uh, questions or actions on the bill. Senator Wilson.

  4. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:43:39

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, motion that we favor recommend Hou House Bill 4 89, the full body of the Senate.

  5. Committee chair1:43:45

     Thank you very much. Uh, would you like to speak to that? Uh,

  6. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:43:49

     No. I, I, uh, I think the good sponsor has been working hard on this. Obviously you've got some, uh, had some input and, uh, I, I think that, uh, I think it's a, it's a good bill and it looks like it's got some compromise.

  7. Committee chair1:44:05

     Okay. Thank you very much. We'll go to the sponsor for discussion or for a summation. Could I allow Candace to, you wanna phone a friend?

  8. Rep. Calvin R. Roberts1:44:15speaker not certain

     Yeah, well, yeah, please. Candace, go ahead. They've been very involved in this.

• Mar 4, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (13 turns)

  1. Sen. John D. Johnson48:59

     Mr. President, I, I'm proud to carry House Bill 2 49 in the Senate and I want to commend Representative Roberts for his work on this legislation. Utah receives a significant portion of its budget from federal funds, yet we lack a clear real time picture of what happens if those funds are reduced or restructured. This bill directs the Analytic Solutions center at the USU Huntsman School of Business to build publicly available dashboards that visualize our federal dependency and critically models future contingency scenarios. So, so we're stress testing our budgets, not just taking a snapshot. The bill also routes the federal funds portion of our budget stress test directly to the Federalism Commission, which then makes recommendations to the executive appropriations. That's a meaningful institutional change. It ensures the right people are asking the hard questions at the right time. Good governance requires good data. This bill gives us that data, plus it puts it in the public's hands and builds it into our budget process where it belongs. I urge a favorable vote. Thank you.

  2. Senate President (presiding)50:18

     Thank you. Senator Johnson. We're looking for discussion to the bill. Say none. I'm going to call the, go back to you for a motion.

  3. Sen. John D. Johnson50:28

     I move under suspension of the rules. That first, uh, substitute house bill 2 49 Pass. Thank you. Senator

  4. Senate President (presiding)50:35

     Johnson. The question is under suspension of the rule. Shall first substitute house bill two forty nine pass. Roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk (roll call)50:41speaker not certain

     Senator Ipson Fery Lewin Bramer Bus Colmore Aye. Es. Camilla Gilmore. Grover Harper. Aye. Kinins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson. Aye. Quan McKay. Mikel. Milner. Aye. Musselman Owens picture, um, Rebi Sandal Stevenson. Stratton. Okay. Pickers Aye. Weiler Aye. Wilson Winterton.

  6. Senate President (presiding)51:35speaker not certain

     President Adams Aye.

  7. Senate President (presiding)51:46

     First substitute house bill 2 49, having received 26 yay votes. One nay vote to being absent passes. His body will be signed by the president and return to the house for the signature of the speaker, uh, before I call the next bill. I think if you look on the board, those bills that are green, we're gonna run. They, they're funded. Those that are read need a substitute or a change for the appropriation. So we'll just keep paying attention to those as we run, as we, as we work through these bills.

  8. Senate President (presiding)52:24

     First substitute House Bill 2 76. First Substitute house bill 2 76, artificial intelligence modifications. Senator Cullimore.

  9. Sen. Cullimore52:32

     Senator Cullimore. Motion to circle, I've got a sub that should be out in a little bit.

  10. Senate President (presiding)52:39

      Motion to circle. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll that motion pass that the bill is circled.

  11. Senate President (presiding)52:52

      Senator Brammer. Senator, Senator Brammer needs a mic

  12. Sen. Brammer52:58

      On, so I would make a motion to adopt the second substitute

  13. Senate President (presiding)53:02

      That motion's in order. Do you wanna explain the second substitute?