Ways and Means subcommittee advances legislative branch budget after heated staffing debate

The Capital Construction Subcommittee of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means on June 18 reported out House Bill 50 16, the budget bill for legislative branch agencies, after members debated requests to expand staffing for legislators’ offices and agreed to a third‑party workload study.

House Bill 50 16 recommends a total funds budget of $275,800,000 and 610 positions for the legislative branch, including Legislative Assembly administration, Legislative Council, Legislative Fiscal Office, Legislative Revenue Office, Legislative Policy and Research, and the Commission on Indian Services. The subcommittee’s recommendation was to amend the bill (dash 6) and report it out due pass as amended; members recorded no objections when the motion was called and the motion passed.

The bill includes one‑time funding for a third party to evaluate staffing models for members’ offices, and adds key performance measures for the Legislative Equity Office, the presenter said. "The recommended budget represents a slight overall decrease from the 2025–27 current service level budget," the subcommittee presenter said when outlining the measure.

The staffing question dominated discussion. "We do not need a study to know that the current staffing structure of legislative offices is not sustainable," Senator Frederick said, urging that the legislature move to increase permanent staffing. Frederick said he introduced a measure this session (referred to in the record as Senate Bridal 1184) that would allocate a second permanent legislative aide to each office and that roughly 22 members across both chambers sponsored that proposal.

Representative Gomberg and others said the Capital Construction Subcommittee did not receive the same hearing on the legislative budget that the General Government Subcommittee had, and that members who participated in that hearing advocated for increased staffing. "Capital Construction did not receive the hearing on the legislative budget that the general government committee did," Gomberg said, noting the views of house members who had urged staffing increases.

Senator McLean moved an amendment (dash 5) that sought to expand staffing but withdrew the motion after members pointed out the amendment had not been posted for the required hour before consideration. "Given the vote count, I'll withdraw the motion," McLean said, and later explained she would vote against the budget as introduced if the staffing changes were not adopted. McLean argued that claims of fiscal scarcity should not be used to deny staffing increases: "Claim scarcity is a false narrative when it comes to, staffing," she said.

Several members expressed support for investing in the branch’s professional staff because of long session hours and increasing workloads. Senator Solman said the workload puts a strain on professional staff and that investments are "well deserved and needed." The committee also directed that LPRO (Legislative Policy and Research) engage a third party to conduct the staffing and workload study and report back for the short session.

Formal action taken on the item was limited to the subcommittee recommendation: House Bill 50 16 was amended by the dash 6 amendment and reported out due pass as amended. No further budget votes on the full Ways and Means committee were recorded in this session transcript.

Committee members asked staff to return findings from the third‑party study in the interim and indicated the study would inform any staffing changes during the next short legislative session.

A roll call of objections to the report was placed on the record during the vote; the committee recorded no objections to the subcommittee recommendation and closed the work session on HB 50 16.