Committee on Legal Services approves legislative-branch budget package including Office of Legislative Legal Services request

The Committee on Legal Services on Feb. 7 voted to advance the fiscal year 2025–26 budget request for the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) and related Office of Legislative Workplace Relations (OLWR) to the Executive Committee.

Director Ed Dechecho presented the OLLS request, saying the office sought $11,255,494 from the general fund for OLLS work (excluding workplace relations) and $435,457 for OLWR, for a combined legislative-branch request of $11,690,950 — a 3.1% increase from the current year. “That will all be from the general fund,” Dechecho said when describing the request.

The budget matters because the OLLS provides legal drafting, publication and litigation support for the General Assembly. Dechecho told committee members that roughly 87% of the OLLS appropriation is for personal services and related benefits, driven by staffing and employer pension payments.

In his presentation, Dechecho broke the request into personal services and operating components and described several notable line items and assumptions. He told the committee the office totals 65.1 full-time equivalent positions (FTE) and that personal-service lines — including salaries, PERA contributions and…