HFSC Board Meeting and FY26 Budget Revision – July 28, 2025
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HFSC Board Meeting and FY26 Budget Revision – July 28, 2025
The Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) Board of Directors met on July 28, 2025, to approve a revised Fiscal Year 2026 budget aligned with the city's adopted budget, authorize intra-year line-item reallocations for FY2025, and receive updates on forensic backlogs, new state legislation, and a THC regulatory bill. The meeting was chaired by Madam Chair Cohen.
Consent Calendar
- The meeting minutes from May 9, 2025 were approved by unanimous voice vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up or spoke during the public comment period.
Discussion Items
- Facility Tour Update: Directors Huff (incorrectly referred to as Huffman once) and Silverman toured HFSC's vehicle examination building. Director Silverman noted it was "greatly improved" and "fascinating" compared to her last visit eight years ago; Director Huff described the facility as "very clean, very tidy."
- Forensic Backlogs Presentation: Dr. Stout provided an update on key backlogs: sexual assault kits (over 90 days) are declining after a pause with Signature Science due to a manufacturing error; firearms remain the primary pain point, slowly increasing; seized drugs (CS) are steadily decreasing as three new analysts have been signed off, with three more in training. He noted that adding three firearms examiners would not result in production for about two years due to training timeline; the current goal is 12 signed-off examiners, with five in training now and five currently signed off.
- Budget Revision and Legislative Update: Dr. Stout explained that the city's final FY26 budget for HFSC is $33.92 million, but a post-budget justification process is expected to increase it to $34.88 million. The board was asked to approve the $33.92 million figure now, with a planned approval of the $34.88 million revision in September. Key risks identified: firearms capacity, toxicology case growth, support resources (IT, facilities, HR), aging IT equipment (firewalls, switches), and CSU capacity. The original FY26 request was $38 million. The year-end cash balance was larger than anticipated, helping cover the gap. On legislation, Dr. Stout highlighted: Senate Bill 1620 (Texas forensic analyst apprenticeship program, signed into law, effective Sept 1, 2025, with ~$5 million fiscal note, targeting 18 apprentices state-wide); Senate Bill 1660 (carried by Senator Joan Huffman, on retention/preservation of toxicology evidence, especially ancient blood tubes); and Senate Bill 5 (special session bill on THC regulation, similar to vetoed SB3, with additional agricultural exemptions—status noted as uncertain but could have major implications for lab testing costs).
Key Outcomes
- FY2026 Revised Budget Approval: The board approved a revised FY2026 budget of $33,920,000 (a 6% increase from FY2025) to align with the city-passed budget. This excludes an expected additional $900,000 to be approved later. The budget includes $425,000 for a full-year lease on the property room and $492,000 for additional firearms personnel and training. The Crime Scene Unit (CSU) add of over $1 million was deferred. All votes were unanimous.
- FY2025 Intra-Year Budget Adjustments: The board approved line-item reallocations within the FY2025 budget with a net change of zero. These moved grant revenue ($1.653 million) and ARPA funds ($1.3 million) from broad buckets to specific line items where they were actually spent. The vote was unanimous.
- Unanimous voice vote to adjourn the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being so flexible about changing the meeting dates and all. I appreciate it. And I certainly hope that your cars are where you left them. And I include myself in that. I'd like to call a meeting to order. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll? Yes, Madam Chair. I will begin the roll call now. Chair Woman Cohen. Here. Vice Chair Baird. Here. Director Vasquez. Here. Director Hilder. Director Silverman. Here. Director Corrales. Director U. Director Majah. Director Huff? Here. And Director Bullets. Here. And that concludes the roll call. Madam Chair, you may continue. Thank you. We have a quorum. With that, let's proceed to agenda item three. And I only have one update for the uh for the board this month. It's my understanding that last month, Directors Huff and Silverman took advantage of the opportunity to tour HFSC's vehicle examination building. I'm pleased you were able to go, and I hope that other board members will find time to do the same over the next several months. Directors Huffman and Silverman, any thoughts you would like to share with the board at this time. It seems like from the last time I saw the facility several years ago that it's uh improved. Greatly. Yeah. Sorry impressed. We've we've made a little progress. When was the last time you were there? It's probably eight years ago. Oh, well. Okay. So I'd never seen it before, and I really didn't know what to expect. And I just found it fascinating what was going on, the situation. It also was very clean, very tidy. That really struck me. Yeah. Yeah. But I'd recommend it to everybody.
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