House Appropriations Government Operations reviews OMB budget; committee removes Prairie Public funding and discusses oil‑and‑gas amendment

The House Appropriations Government Operations Division reviewed House Bill 1015, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) appropriation, discussing vacant positions, several staffing and IT requests, and a proposed amendment changing oil‑and‑gas distributions.

Vice Chairman Brandenburg said, “We're not going to move this amendment, but we're going to talk about it,” as he introduced amendment 01003 and outlined its fiscal implications for county and township infrastructure funding.

Why it matters: The committee’s changes will affect the OMB operating budget and several interagency funding streams. Members debated how an anticipated senate change to the oil‑and‑gas distribution formula could shift tens of millions of dollars among infrastructure funds and local governments, and the panel removed a line item for Prairie Public to avoid creating a mismatch if the Senate does not concur.

The committee agreed to remove funding for Prairie Public from the OMB worksheet after members said a separate floor vote had already passed a measure on the House floor; the change was made so the OMB bill would not be returned to committee if the Senate does not approve the same language. Committee members also directed staff to add $100,000 for the governor's residence remodel to the worksheet and to note a separate appropriation for emergency commission contingency funds will be pulled out of this bill.

On staffing, OMB presented an updated vacant FTE list and explained how positions were grouped by current status. Joe Goplin, director of fiscal management division at OMB, and other OMB staff said two vacancies in the request are repurposes of existing FTEs (a communications specialist and a state procurement officer). OMB staff said one print‑and‑mail specialist listed as vacant had been filled in January and that several custodial night positions have proven difficult to recruit and retain. For two jobs authorized as 1.0 FTE (a maintenance worker and a tour guide), OMB said it is filling those as 0.5 FTE and plans to continue that approach unless needs change.

On the legislature’s worksheet items, committee staff confirmed the house version should show a base reduction for bond payments that have been satisfied and noted a 3% budget reduction the agency is carrying into the draft. Committee members also acknowledged a reclassification to create a procurement officer would increase general fund costs because funding would move from special funds into the general fund.

Committee members reviewed several OMB requests for IT and HR systems. OMB described procurement automation funding as having two components: $615,004 as an ongoing licensing/maintenance cost and $515,000 in one‑time implementation costs (integration with existing systems such as PeopleSoft). Molly Harrington of OMB HRMS described a proposed recruiting management system as a one‑time implementation plus ongoing service cost; she said it would shorten application times by importing resume data and provide candidate sourcing and two‑way text communications. Harrington said, “It would allow us to pull in from third party job boards,” and the committee approved recording a $250,000 one‑time implementation amount and $300,000 as ongoing in the worksheet.

The committee also discussed the state’s use of a compensation methodology and an annual fee to access market data. Molly Harrington identified that the state now pays Korn Ferry for the HAY methodology data and stated the fee is an annual access cost; committee members asked staff to list that as an ongoing line item.

A separate policy discussion by Vice Chairman Brandenburg examined a senate bill that changes an oil‑and‑gas distribution formula from a fixed dollar designation to a barrels‑based calculation and the likely effect on county and township infrastructure funds. Brandenburg outlined calculations—citing treasurer and DOT figures—estimating roughly $24 million (cities and townships) plus a 12% share of a $223 million DOT flex fund (about $26.8 million), producing a combined near $50 million shift. Brandenburg said the amendment would reallocate funding to avoid diluting the infrastructure fund for existing non‑oil townships and proposed moving $50 million into what he called the Prairie Dog infrastructure bucket to cover the absorption of five counties and roughly 200 townships into the non‑oil distribution. Committee members did not attach the amendment and said leadership would continue internal discussions before any formal action.

On program administration, OMB staff described a childcare credit that had been funded in the current biennium and noted differences in systems integration between OMB and the higher education system office. Joe Goplin told the committee he regularly must verify employment with higher education because OMB lacks direct payroll access, and he said, “We would be able to process everything right through payroll, whereas now we're processing everything through accounts payable,” if the funding and administration were consolidated—an option the committee said it will continue to evaluate.

Committee members instructed staff to update the worksheet to reflect the agreed changes and to return with an updated long sheet at the next meeting. The committee recessed and later reconvened before adjourning for the day.

Ending: Committee members said they would continue coordination with leadership and with the Senate before finalizing items that depend on other bills; staff will supply the updated worksheet at the next Government Operations meeting.