Big news! The House Finance Committee has passed their version of the state budget—which includes $27 million funding for the Katie Beckett bill! We are so grateful to the House Leadership, Sponsor Representative Sam Whitson and Representative Matthew Hill for championing this legislation. We anticipate that the House of Representatives will pass their version of the budget in their session tomorrow morning. Immediately afterwards, we will be holding a press conference with Speaker Glen Casada to share our gratitude.
Once the full House of Representatives has passed their version of the budget, the House Finance Subcommittee will take up all the bills that were “put behind the budget” including the Katie Beckett Bill. We anticipate that the Subcommittee will pass the bill itself as written. Then the bill will go to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
This is a HUGE DEAL made possible in large part due to families who have advocated so effectively for the Katie Beckett Program this year. Thank you!
The Senate will still need to consider its budget plan. It is critical that the Senate include funding for Katie Beckett Bill in its version of the state budget as well. The House and Senate versions of the state budget will need to be aligned before the full Tennessee General Assembly passes a state funding plan for the coming fiscal year.
We will be sharing coverage of the press conference tomorrow and keep you up to date as we learn more about the Senate’s plans. Thank you to all of our community members who have been reaching out to the Senate Finance Committee over past few days.