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Committee reviews Job Service budget; members press on IT costs, federal funding and new H‑2A position
Summary
Lawmakers reviewed Job Service appropriations, questioned increases in IT and operating lines, and discussed adding one FTE to manage H‑2A (foreign agricultural worker) placements. Staff reported high federal funding share and ongoing mainframe modernization costs.
The Appropriations — Education and Environment Division considered the Job Service budget (white sheet 2016), pressing agency staff on increased IT costs, an added H‑2A position and adjustments to federal funding levels.
Representative Swantek introduced the item and asked agency staff to explain line‑by‑line changes. McKenna Thilges, identified as Job Service’s finance manager, told the committee the budget adds one position to support the H‑2A (foreign agricultural worker) program and requested $47,000 in operating for that FTE. Thilges said Job Service placed roughly 4,321 foreign workers in the past year and that demand had risen.
Committee members focused on IT and operating adjustments tied to a multi‑year mainframe modernization. Thilges and staff said the modernization project had a previously appropriated figure of about $44,000,000 and that recent operating increases include pass‑through charges from state IT (NDIT), telephone/call‑center costs and hosting fees (including Unisys). Committee staff described a requested increase where $237,000 of general fund and $237,000 of other funds total $474,000 associated with transitional IT costs while the new system comes online.
Members pressed why a roughly $2.9 million adjustment to base operating funds appeared on the long sheet; Job Service and OMB staff said that figure reflected a mix of a mandated base adjustment and the agency reconciling expected federal funding shortfalls rather than a single program change. Committee staff and the agency said Job Service’s program remains heavily federally funded (agency statements placed federal funding at roughly 94% of the budget) and that general fund dollars have been used to stabilize pay and retain staff where federal reimbursements did not keep pace.
Lawmakers also discussed ARPA funds tied to a monetization program; staff said about $45,000,000 had been subject to the program, roughly $8,000,000 had been returned, and remaining funds must be spent by the statutory deadline noted in committee testimony.
The committee did not record a formal vote on Job Service in the provided excerpt. Staff committed to follow up on several technical questions, including precise deadlines for federal/ARPA line items and the composition of the IT increase.
Ending: Committee members said the Job Service budget was generally in shape but asked staff to return with clarifications on IT charges, the $2.9 million operating adjustment, and ARPA/REED Act carryover authority before formal action.
