diff --git a/R/suggestions.R b/R/suggestions.R
index 7ce4487..b0299fa 100644
--- a/R/suggestions.R
+++ b/R/suggestions.R
@@ -300,14 +300,14 @@
 #'   result.
 #' @return Data frame with columns `recipe_id` (character) and `year`
 #'   (integer). Returns an empty data frame (`recipe_id = character(0)`,
-#'   `year = integer(0)`) when `gap_years` is empty, so callers can safely
-#'   reference `$recipe_id`.
+#'   `year = integer(0)`) when `gap_years` or `candidates` is empty, so
+#'   callers can safely reference `$recipe_id`.
 #' @noRd
 .query_covered_years <- function(con, candidates, cohort, gap_years) {
-  if (length(gap_years) == 0L) {
+  if (length(gap_years) == 0L || length(candidates) == 0L) {
     return(data.frame(recipe_id = character(0), year = integer(0)))
   }
-  DBI::dbGetQuery(con, sprintf(
+  res <- DBI::dbGetQuery(con, sprintf(
     "SELECT DISTINCT r.recipe_id, l.year
      FROM long l
      JOIN harmonization_recipes r
@@ -322,6 +322,8 @@
     .sql_lit_chr(candidates), .cohort_sql(cohort, "l.canonical_govid"),
     paste(gap_years, collapse = ",")
   ))
+  res$year <- as.integer(res$year)
+  res
 }
 
 #' Query recipe metadata: labels and year spans for a set of candidate
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-recipes.R b/tests/testthat/test-recipes.R
index fcb950b..18f3064 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-recipes.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-recipes.R
@@ -392,6 +392,26 @@ test_that("I1 + #34: cog_revenue never suggests expenditure-only recipes", {
   expect_false("corrections_combined" %in% ids)
 })
 
+test_that(".query_candidate_recipes() scopes candidates by category_type (#34)", {
+  # Direct assertion on the mechanism the two tests above exercise
+  # end-to-end: corrections_combined's own components (E04/E05) are
+  # category_type = 'expenditure' in summary_categories, so an
+  # expenditure-flavored flow_prefixes call must surface it and a
+  # revenue-flavored one must not. This queries only summary_categories/
+  # harmonization_recipes (no government data), so it runs against the
+  # bundled fixture with no skip_if_no_corpus() needed.
+  con <- uscogdata:::.ensure_session()
+
+  expenditure <- uscogdata:::.query_candidate_recipes(
+    con, category = "Corrections", flow_prefixes = c("E", "F", "G"))
+  expect_true("corrections_combined" %in% expenditure)
+
+  revenue <- uscogdata:::.query_candidate_recipes(
+    con, category = "Corrections",
+    flow_prefixes = c("T", "A", "U", "B", "C", "D"))
+  expect_false("corrections_combined" %in% revenue)
+})
+
 test_that("uscogdata#9: no partial-coverage fire in a modern year", {
   skip_if_no_corpus()
   r <- cog_spending("061037123085", years = 2019L, category = "Public Welfare")