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Committee discusses regional planning councils bill with staffing concerns; action deferred
Summary
Members debated a bill that would allow funds to pay regional planning council staff or contractors to implement biennial work plans; members expressed concern about authorizing new FTEs paid by the state and deferred final action to allow more review.
Committee members discussed legislation that would allocate funds to regional planning councils and allow the use of those funds to employ staff or contract for services to implement biennial work plans. Testimony and a handout supplied estimates that funding could support roughly two full-time equivalent staff per region, calculated at about $25,000 per year per FTE on a handout provided to the committee.
Senator Bernie (identified in the transcript) said the subcommittee has been cautious about approving new FTEs and removing vacant positions; she said she could not support authorizing new state-paid FTEs without further consideration. Committee members agreed to delay substantive action to allow additional time to review testimony and written materials. The chair suggested holding the item over for one more day so members who missed the hearing could read testimony and prepare.
Why it matters: The bill would shift the cost of local/regional staff or contractors to the state and affect the budgets of regional planning councils and local implementation capacity; members asked for more time to weigh budget trade-offs before approving new state-funded positions.
