A conference committee working on engrossed House Bill 1013 voted to add a section to provide $500,000 to the Department of Public Instruction to reimburse contracts that were started based on expected ESSER funding but for which federal extensions were refused.

Chairman Richter told the committee that the superintendent of public instruction had received a notification from the U.S. Department of Education that extensions on some ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds had been denied, leaving districts with outstanding contracts and obligations. "The whole purpose of [the section] is to provide funding to DPI of $500,000 so they can pay up their obligations that they have because the ESSER funds are not there to do it with," Richter said.

Committee members discussed the scope of the amendment. Senator Shibley said the appropriation is meant to reimburse spending already incurred, not to continue or expand projects: "Money has been spent. They've been stopped, but now we're just going to pay for the point up to this point. So it's not...we're continuing these programs and adding more money...What we're doing is just reimbursing for stuff that has been spent...we expected ESSER dollars." Senator Shibley also said the committee believes $500,000 should be sufficient to cover the need and that any unused amount would be turned back to the treasury.

The amendment appears on page 7 as a contract-reimbursement section, and the committee noted an emergency clause on page 14 (identified in the bill as section 25) so the funds will become available immediately if the measure is enacted in its amended form. The committee described the appropriation as reimbursement that would operate "backwards" to cover obligations already incurred because the ESSER funds are no longer available.

Members moved and seconded the amendment and took a roll-call vote; the motion to adopt the amendments passed. Committee members then discussed next steps; a separate motion to accept the fully amended bill was identified as required but was not completed during the recorded exchange before adjournment.

Committee members asked and received clarification that the action is intended to backfill prior obligations tied to ESSER funding rather than to initiate new spending, and that the emergency clause is intended to make reimbursement dollars available quickly once the amendment becomes effective. The committee did not, in the recorded segment, finalize a vote accepting the amended engrossed bill itself.