Scott Moore, joining the fiscal office, told a joint fiscal committee meeting that the differences between appropriation, allocation and authorization determine how money appears in the capital bill and how much of that money is actually available to spend.

"Appropriation is an authorization granted by the constitution or the legislature to make expenditures or to incur obligations for a specific purpose," Moore said. He used an example in which a capital bill contains a $2,000,000 appropriation to build a garage and the legislature then allocates part of that amount or directs the treasurer to issue bonds to finance the work.

The briefing explained several terms the committee will use repeatedly while shaping the capital bill. Allocation was defined as the portion of a lump-sum appropriation designated for particular units or projects; obligation is the legal requirement created when the state signs a contract; encumbrance is the portion of an appropriation that is earmarked to pay an anticipated obligation; and expenditure is the payment that reduces the cash balance after legal requirements are met.

Moore and committee members discussed examples from the committee's working spreadsheet showing an $18,000,000 appropriation in one section of the capital bill that is distributed by allocation across multiple Department of Corrections (DOC) projects. Committee members cited specific allocations inside that section, including a $300,000 allocation for HVAC work and a $2,500,000 allocation for a booking expansion at the St. Albans Correctional Facility. Those allocations were presented as parts of the larger section appropriation rather than separate appropriations.

The committee also discussed how unspent or partially used appropriations from prior years are reallocated into a new biennium. Moore described a reallocation process that added about $14,700,000 to an initial two-year bonding capacity of $108,000,000, producing a working capital budget figure of $122,700,000 in the governor's proposal. He said the governor's recommended budget can change during negotiations and that the reallocation committee (sometimes called the repo committee in the discussion) conducts a second sweep of accounts to identify additional reallocation candidates before the committee finalizes its work.

Committee members raised questions about specific project line items. One member and a committee analyst traced money previously banked for work at 108 Cherry Street (referred to in the briefing as the Cherry Street garage) across multiple fiscal years. The committee was told that past appropriations and encumbrances for that project, together with a later administrative decision to put the property up for sale, explain why previously appropriated funds were reclassified as reallocations.

The meeting also touched on bond issuance mechanics. Moore and members discussed bond premiums — extra proceeds when bonds sell above par — and noted the treasurer's testimony that a recent sale produced roughly $6,000,000 in premium proceeds. Committee members emphasized that whether and how much of any premium appears in the capital bill depends on the governor's decisions and the timing of bond sales.

Moore cautioned committee members to ask agencies how much previously appropriated money is already obligated or encumbered before approving new requests. "If it's obligated or particularly if it's encumbered, your money is tied up and you can't really pull it back unless the project totally fails," he said, noting the practical limits on accessing funds that are already committed to contracts or purchase orders.

No formal votes or final actions were recorded in the briefing segment. The committee expects to receive the governor's budget box for the next two fiscal years and to review reallocation detail and revised spreadsheets as the process moves toward negotiation with the Senate and the appropriations committee.