Sen. Hoffman, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on the Legislature, convened the subcommittee to consider the final FY26 operating budget action report for the legislature. Pete Eklund, staff to Sen. Hoffman and the Senate Finance Committee, reviewed the document and identified proposed reductions to the legislature's Unrestricted General Fund (UGF) appropriation.

Eklund told the subcommittee, "The report you have in front of you, Mr. Chairman, I'll highlight a couple of reductions that are being proposed and then talk in general about the rest of the items." He identified two specific UGF reductions in the report: a $250,000 reduction listed as item 1 on page 2 and a $1,000,000 reduction for special sessions listed as item 19 on page 4.

Eklund said the subcommittee followed guidance sent earlier in the session directing subcommittees not to take new UGF increments from either the House proposal or the governor. He summarized the subcommittee's approach: it accepted transfers that were not additive, accepted structural changes that were not additive, and rejected requests that would add new UGF increments. Eklund cited examples of requests that were evaluated but not approved, including items for the mail room, security, and lease costs. He said details of all items would be available to the conference committee.

Sen. Stedman moved "the attached final budget action report for the legislature from subcommittee and give legislative finance the ability to make technical and conforming changes as necessary." The transcript does not record a roll-call vote or a second. After the motion, Sen. Hoffman closed the meeting; no roll-call vote or explicit objection is recorded in the transcript.

The subcommittee's action, as described in the report, reduces the legislature's FY26 UGF by a total of $1,250,000 across the two items Eklund highlighted. The report and supporting itemization will be provided to the conference committee for further review, according to Eklund.

Meeting participants noted that some requested budget increases were for routine operational needs; the subcommittee's stated standard was to avoid additive UGF increases during this close-out. The transcript does not record further debate, amendments, or a formal roll-call tally on the motion.

The meeting adjourned following the presentation and the motion to report the budget action to Legislative Finance.