JBC votes to eliminate temporary-employee authorizations tied to authorized leave; committees ask departments to justify needs

Andrew McLear, JBC staff, presented a memo compiling appropriations for temporary employees tied to authorized leave across multiple departments and asked the Joint Budget Committee whether to eliminate those line items to capture savings.

The nut graf: Staff recommended reducing those appropriations to zero and directing departments to justify any continuing need; Director Craig Harper and committee members noted that Corrections and Human Services may present legitimate operational concerns because of 24/7 staffing needs.

McLear said eliminating the line items could yield approximately $3,200,000 in general fund savings and $4.5 million in total fund savings, with the bulk of savings coming from corrections and human services. Director Harper cautioned that Corrections and DHS might have trouble covering 24/7 staffing without those line items and that the committee should accept the risk of after-the-fact comebacks if it adopted the cut.

Representative Patrick Taggart and other members supported the idea as a management decision to require departments to explain why the funds are necessary rather than maintaining the automatic appropriations.

Motion and vote: The vice chair moved to eliminate the temporary-employee line items as set forth in staff totals; there were no objections and the motion passed 6-0.

Ending: Departments flagged as most likely to be affected (Department of Corrections, Department of Human Services) were asked to prepare justifications if they believe the committee's elimination would materially impair operations.