H.B. 342 Federal Grant Process Amendments: transcript

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, so this bill, let me be very clear about this sets up, uh, guardrails and parameters for federal grants. And currently we haven't none of those. And so the executive branch can, uh, submit for whatever they want. And so, so this creates a legislative oversight over that process. The second thing it does is if it's, if so needed or if the speaker and the president desire, they can establish a separate committee to review any grants that they feel like need to be, um, looked at. And then it also establishes approval limits. So up to $5 million, uh, the agency or the governor can decide five to $25 million EAC can review and make a recommendation 25 million or more. The legislative need legislature needs to approve that, and a hundred million or more creates a pre-submission process to EAC and then legislative approval, and also has a legislative oversight committee. And that's the bill, Mr. Chair.

Sure. Um, I'm wondering if we need another, another committee. So this is only at the discretion of the president and the speaker. Uh, a good example would be this, uh, health and Human Services grant. So obviously it's over a hundred million dollars, uh, over the five years is probably gonna be close to a billion dollars. Yeah. And so there was desire to have a separate committee start to look at that and work with Health and Human Services. But then we did put it back into our normal process, like you're saying, we made it go to social services for, um, review and approval, and then it came to EAC in a presentation, and then it will be in the budget bills for approval by the legislature. And so, like I said, this is only if under special circumstances, you would need to have a committee like that. And, and in this circumstance where there's so many moving parts and so many people, we actually have people looking at, um, what those, uh, appropriations look like.

Senator Fillmore 3 42, I'll move, move a favorable recommendation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, uh, house Bill 3 42 is, uh, sets up a process for handling federal government, uh, grants. And so it really does three things. It sets up, uh, parameters for approval through the legislature. It allows the president and speaker to set up a committee to over have oversight over this grant. And the last thing it does is it, uh, establishes approval and oversight of the federal grants generally. So, um, under this process, a grant up to 5 million or less could be approved by the agency or the governor. Uh, grants five to $25 million could be reviewed and and approved by the Executive Appropriations Committee. Anything 25 million and more, uh, would go through EAC and then need legislative approval. And, uh, so, uh, this process is to make sure that we have legislative oversight over these funds that are coming into the state. And it also, um, as you know, we have the Rural Health grant that's here right now. Obviously, this bill will not cover that, but as we've worked through that process, uh, we have the president and speaker created an ad hoc committee that did review their recommendations for the $194 million. Then it Uintah the Social Services Committee, and they actually jointly presented with Tracy Gruber last night at EAC. And, uh, and now, um, our intent, they have to submit a new budget to the federal government by Friday. But, uh, hopefully that budget and, and even if it doesn't, we will put those amounts into the bill of Bills at the end of the session for the legislature to vote on 'em. So really the idea behind this is to make sure that the legislature still is in control of the funds that are coming into the state of Utah. And without, I'm open to any questions.

Mr. Chair, please. I just wanna say thank you, Representative Peterson. This is something that should have been done. I can't even believe that this hasn't been done before. But thank you. As a former executive director, I was shocked at the amount of, of these grants that my organization had. In fact, the grants were much more than the state budget gave to that department. So I was glad to hear that, uh, Tracy Gruber was briefed on this and is involved because it was monumental. So thanks for doing this. It'll give us a better picture of what's going on and, uh, we, we can maybe adjust what the state gives these agencies. Thank you.

I move that we pass out HB 3 42, um, with a favorable recommendation.

It's just common sense.

House Bill 3 42 Federal grant Process Amendments by representative Val Peterson. This bill was heard in the rules Committee with a vote of 5 0 3

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this bill does three things. It, uh, establishes a, an approval and oversight of federal grants by the legislature. The second thing it does is it establishes approval limits for federal grants. So $5 million or less. The governor can make a decision on that between 5 million and less than 25 million EAC reviews and makes a recommendation. 25 million to, uh, and above is, uh, approved by the legislature. And a hundred million or more has a pre-submission review by the Executive Appropriations Committee for approval. And then the legislative oversight com committee, and then the legislature. The other thing, this allows the president and the speaker to appoint a committee to establish and review the grant to make sure that it falls in line with, um, the goals of the state. So what this bill really does is allow the legislature to continue to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to manage the assets and, uh, re resources and budget of the State of Utah. And so with that, Mr. Speaker, that's my presentation.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to know, um, why would the oversight committee have salaries and expenses paid while on this board? Ask yield the question. Oh, sorry. Sorry about that.

Yes, I'll yield Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I just wanted to know why the Oversight committee, um, would have salaries and expenses paid while on this board.

So this is a legislative responsibility. Just like you're paid for other committees, you would be reimbursed for your expenses.

Okay. Thank you. Is it in addition to what they already get paid or is it just saying what they already are paid?

It's just like our daily rate. Okay. Like we normally have.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker with the sponsor yield. A couple of questions.

Thank you. I I'm just wondering, those are some ginormous jumps. We've, uh, we're allowing the, uh, the governor and others to ac accept from like 10 million to 25 million from, uh, one of 'em is up to like a hundred million. I'm just wondering what the, what's happened that we need to make these ginormous leaps,

Mr. Speaker. So, uh, we've had some different federal grants that we've applied for that are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And so these approvals, these recommendations and approvals by EAC and by the full legislature just to make sure that the legislative branch is responsible for the budgeting and management of funds that the state of Utah is receiving.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Speaker. Uh, from my perspective, this is a brilliant bill. Uh, having run some state agencies, I could tell you that it was very difficult at times for an executive director to know how many grants and what grants people within the own organization had. And so this is a great move by the a c and i, I strongly support this bill to get our eyes on every ounce of federal money coming into the state, the state. So I commend the sponsor. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was looking over this bill. It, it kind of made me nervous. Um, every time we take a federal grant, it always has strings attached. Every time, uh, we accept money, we always have to do something that the federal government wants us to do. So I, while I appreciate that, it's not practical always that we get together and approve a grant or federal money coming in, I do think it is our constitutional responsibility to accept what we are taking. And, and, and the, and so this, uh, this, this, this makes me nervous. This is, uh, deferring our constitutional responsibility and or it's not deferring the, it's, uh, reassigning it and, or it's, it's kind of giving it away. Uh, I think so may kind of cheap in what, what we we're supposed to do. We're supposed to look at the, look at what we're accepting and then, um, and, and agree to it. So it, it, this, this bill does make me nervous. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanna rise in support of this bill. Um, to me, just when I think about this bill, I, I think this bill is in response to, um, what happened with the big beautiful bill in, in Congress. And as a part of that, um, money, there was a rural health transformation money that was set aside. Some of the changes that were made to Medicaid in that bill were thought to and may and may yet still hurt rural hospitals and rural communities. So to ensure that that didn't happen, some money was set aside, particularly to help rural communities, particularly with their healthcare needs with hospitals and the clinics and things there. And that, and our Department of Health Uintah work right away to make sure that we got the share of the money that we needed. And they have done a good job of that. They've been working like crazy to get that ready, but it's, it's a large amount of money, uh, that they're trying to make decisions on. And what we don't want to have happen is that they're making all those decisions without the legislature having its due oversight over the, over how that money gets used and making sure that we get feedback on it. So I think that's the reason why this comes up now, is so that we can have oversight over those decisions that are being made. Um, and so I'm grateful to sponsor for putting this together and bringing it forward.

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

Thank you. Um, in this bill, does this bill give, um, more power or does it give more oversight to, does it take away, away from the legislature's oversight or does it give more oversight to the legislature?

Yeah, Mr. Speaker, uh, let me be clear. Right now, the governor and the agencies are approving and submitting for these grants without our approval. And what this bill does is actually put the legislature back in the driver's seat. It makes us the ones who are making sure that those grants are approved by us before they submit them. That we're reviewing those grants, that we have committees who are helping create the budgets that are around those grants, and that those grants are receiving approval and oversight from the legislature. The executive branch right now is doing this. This creates guardrails so that we're the ones who are making sure that those grants are approved and that we feel good about the, the things that we're applying for, and that when we receive those monies, that they're being spent in accordance with the, the intent of the legislature.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I, I rise in support of this. I, I think it's a good policy that puts us back, like, like the sponsor mentioned into the driver's seat. It gives us an opportunity to be responsible to our constituents when it comes to these funds. And I would urge my colleagues to support it as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This bill is about the legislature's constitutional responsibility for budgeting and making sure that we are the ones who are approving the funds that are coming into the state of Utah. I urge your support on this so that we can continue to, to do the work that we are here to do. And our number one responsibility, if you all remember from the Constitution, is to create the budget of the State of Utah. Thank you.

President Pro Temp. I move the Senate adjourn until Thursday, February 26th at 10:00 AM