Executive and legislative budgets rise with civil service pay adjustments; redistricting commission boilerplate removed

The subcommittee reviewed the executive and legislative budget lines recommended for FY2025-26, both of which the Senate Fiscal Agency said were largely flat with routine increases tied to the civil-service pay adjustment.

Senate Fiscal Agency analyst Joe Carrasco said the recommended adjustments reflect a roughly 3% pay increase tied to civil-service pay changes and that the executive and legislature increases are driven primarily by staff compensation costs. The presenter said the governor's recommendation applies the expected civil-service increase to the executive and legislative lines.

The nut graf: the primary change of note is removal of boilerplate and funding tied to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The analyst explained that the commission had gone dormant pending the next census, so related baseline appropriations and reporting requirements were removed from the recommendation.

Other details: the fiscal agency noted a $2.3 million baseline removal tied to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and a small unclassified-salary baseline adjustment in the auditor general's line. The governor also removed language allowing the auditor general access to confidential information in that section. Carrasco provided a line-by-line breakout of increases proposed for the House and Senate to reflect the roughly 3% adjustment.

Ending: members did not take votes during the meeting; Senator Kleinfeld noted that legislative pay adjustments do not apply to member salaries, a separate point raised during Q&A.