The House and Senate are in full swing these days, but the status of recommended funding submitted by the LCCMR is in limbo.
While the House sent the bill (HF 293) to the Senate on February 28, a Senate hearing has yet to be scheduled. (An email to Finance chair Sen. Richard Cohen as to when the bill will be heard by the Senate Finance Committee has not been answered.)
There were relatively few hitches in the House with the bill. A few authors were added (Reps. Abeler, Lillie, Kalin, Rudd, McNamara) and some minor language was also added, mainly focused on the area of land conservation. There was language added regarding the LCCMR – language that clarified the committee’s meetings must be open to the public and will be held throughout the state. Perhaps some organizations felt left out in the LCCMR’s latest process?
In the end, the LCCMR’s funding requests were passed and now await a reading in the Senate. A recap of the final funding recommendations is available here, and a spreadsheet outlining the funding recommendations submitted to the House is here.
And while it may seem that things have slowed a tad in regard to the LCCMR, it is sure to be an interesting session regarding budget requests and this will be one of many to watch.
The LCCMR is holding a peer review panel meeting Wednesday, March 28. This is not an official LCCMR committee meeting, rather this meeting is part of LCCMR’s review process for its funding recommendations.