Legislative council asks for 25 new staff to bolster policy, evaluation and IT support

John Bjornsson, director of the Legislative Council, told the House Appropriations — Government Operations Division that the council is seeking authorization for 25 new full‑time positions this biennium as part of a multi‑phase plan to expand policy analysis, program evaluation and information technology capacity.

The request, which Bjornsson said leadership asked the council to prepare, aims to give legislators more proactive, accessible research and program evaluation while addressing staff turnover and the workload from special sessions and litigation. “We continue to experience staff turnover,” Bjornsson said, and described efforts to add policy analysts and a communications position that were approved on an emergency basis this year.

Committee members pressed Bjornsson for implementation details. He said the council currently has 47 employees on the payroll, that three temporary positions (two policy analysts and one communications specialist) are already hired under emergency commission authority, and that the full 25‑position request would be phased in across the year rather than hired all July 1. Bjornsson said the plan calls for roughly five additional hires by July 1, more through the autumn, and the remainder by year end as space becomes available.

Representatives asked where the new staff would sit and who would supervise them. Bjornsson said available office space is limited; the council is exploring underused legislative areas, consolidation of other offices and facilities adjustments. He said the policy analysts currently report to legal division director Emily Thompson while a new policy and evaluations director position is developed. “Right now the policy analysts are reporting directly to the legal division director, Emily Thompson,” he told the committee.

Bjornsson described why the expansion is driven by term limits and a busier interim calendar: shorter legislative careers increase demand for nonpartisan institutional history and accessible background material. He said legislative leaders asked to prioritize policy analysts and a communications role so staff can publish plain‑language briefings, video explainers and “white papers” to educate incoming members and the public in advance of questions from legislators.

The director also outlined workforce and retention steps: the council has used an equity/session retention program since 2019 to help keep staff through session workloads, and Bjornsson said the retention pool has accumulated to about $1.4 million since 2019. He told the committee the council has added temporary FTEs this year and on‑boarded 17 employees in 2024.

Committee members raised several implementation questions the council could not yet fully answer at the hearing: a finalized job description for the proposed policy and evaluations director was not available; the council’s organizational charts remain a work in progress; and the council has not planned office remodel costs for the full expansion beyond equipment and furniture. Bjornsson said some funding for remodeling and facilities planning had been requested through OMB.

No formal motion or vote on the staffing request occurred during the hearing; members asked for more detail and told the director they want clearer implementation plans, job descriptions, reporting lines and space plans before deciding on authorization.

Bjornsson invited further questions and offered to return with additional detail. “We’re happy to come back and get into the detail anytime that you need us,” he said, and the committee recessed to proceed to the next agenda item.