The conference committee on House Bill 1012 on Thursday reviewed differences between the House and Senate public health and human services budgets, discussing reductions tied to lost federal COVID funding, adjustments to grants and contracts, and several one‑time funding requests.

The discussion centered on a roughly $60 million loss of federal COVID‑related funding and how that shortfall affects line items across the bill. "The department had lost around $60,000,000 of COVID funding, between when the house heard our bill in the senate," Donna Ockland, chief financial officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee, adding that some IT projects supporting immunizations were funded by that money and need to be finished.

The committee examined multiple specific differences. The Senate reduced a domestic‑violence prevention line by $1,700,000 while the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) budget contains a $7,000,000 general‑fund addition intended to replace lost federal funds. Committee members asked staff to clarify whether the DOCR amount was budget neutral or represented a net increase.

Committee members also revisited the "safe havens" line, which concerns temporary safe placements for children. The last biennium base was $425,000; the governor recommended increasing that to $925,000 and the House had added $440,000 more before the committee returned that line to the governor’s recommendation, Ockland said.

Undertaking remaining IT work for immunizations drove another discussion: the Senate shifted funds so the unfinished immunization IT work would receive one‑time funding to complete projects previously supported with COVID dollars. "We asked them to remove it from this line and add it as one‑time funding to finish out those IT projects we started because we can't do this work for immunizations without our IT projects being completed," Ockland said.

The committee also discussed the state’s forensic pathology contract with the University of North Dakota. Dirk Wilkie, interim commissioner, said the UND contract request was intended to maintain current autopsy capacity rather than expand it. "That is to just maintain the work that they're doing now," Wilkie said, noting the current contract covers about 440 autopsies and that the state lab is not yet fully operational.

Members pressed for clarity on funding sources for several items, including whether amounts came from the Community Health Trust Fund, the general fund, or other accounts. The forensic pathology continuation was tied in committee discussion to the Community Health Trust Fund; members said they would list items to revisit and asked staff to provide clearer allocations.

Smaller grants and one‑time items were considered in turn. The House added $100,000 for Family Voices on top of a $160,000 base; the Senate reduced that increase by half. The committee discussed a $278,000 Community Health Trust Fund line for an electronic records system for forensic examiners that the Senate removed to prioritize a broader IT review.

Members also discussed behavioral‑health facility funding. The committee reviewed an existing $1.95 million general‑fund appropriation in section 28 of the bill for a Northwest Human Service Region behavioral health facility and a separate request for about $1.5 million to complete a 10‑bed inpatient project in Williston. Committee members asked for documentation of local matching funds and for hospital sponsors to clarify outstanding construction or vendor issues before the committee takes further action.

On larger structural items, senators and representatives debated utilization estimates for entitlement programs such as foster care. The Senate made utilization adjustments intended to "right‑size" projections; members said these were not cuts to benefits but changes to budget estimates that can be corrected later if actual spending exceeds projections.

No formal votes or final decisions were recorded in the transcript. Committee members directed staff to assemble spreadsheets and clarifications on funding sources, recent carryover or roll‑over amounts, awarded grants from prior statewide strategy rounds, and outstanding vendor or matching‑fund requirements for construction projects. They scheduled further work on IT prioritization for the afternoon session.

The committee adjourned to reconvene later in the week for continued negotiations on remaining differences.