Committee members and OMB officials discussed disruptions to state capital projects caused by problems drawing federal grant funds and the resulting exposure to state budgets.

Director Maxwell reported committee members' calls about projects that were paused after federal drawdowns failed. He said one DHSS laboratory project could not draw down a federal ELC grant and that contractors were briefly removed from the job. Maxwell said the DHSS lab project was funded by the bond bill ($3,000,000 state allocation), an ELC federal grant (approximately $43,000,000 total), and ARPA cash on hand; OMB reported about $5.9 million of exposure on the laboratory project if the federal funding were not available and said there was about $2.8 million of ARPA cash that could be used to continue the project in the short term.

OMB told the committee it is gathering a department‑by‑department accounting of capital projects that could be at risk if federal capital grants are curtailed, and would aim to provide detailed exposure estimates by committee markup. Maxwell said that, while ARPA funding was not the principal concern, several other federal grants and construction draws pose near‑term uncertainty and that the state may need to consider contingency financing for projects that are substantially complete.

Committee members asked for an estimate of total potential exposure. In response, Maxwell said that if every federal grant were to disappear, the exposure across multiple departments could be in the neighborhood of $4,000,000,000; he stressed that this was a broad upper‑bound estimate and said staff were continuing to refine department‑level exposure assessments.

Officials from DHSS and Facilities Management confirmed there are projects that rely on federal grants and that some work is proceeding while federal draw issues are resolved. For the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill (DHCI), DHSS reported ARPA and other federal funds were significant components of project financing and said the project is largely under contract and in active construction; Facilities Management said there remained federal compliance steps (including Section 106 historic review) and that some subcontracts and payments were in process.

Ending: OMB and agency staff told the committee they would compile department‑by‑department exposure lists, estimate maximum potential liabilities, and discuss contingency plans during upcoming meetings prior to budget markup.