Joint Fiscal Office seeks $92,000 consultant budget change to study legislative staff compensation

Catherine Benham, chief fiscal officer for the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO), told the Senate Appropriations Committee Feb. 12 that the office plans to use an existing FY24 appropriation of $92,000 to hire a consultant to review legislative staff compensation and organizational structure and to implement adjustments aligned with the Joint Legislative Management Committee’s direction.

Benham described prior work completed in 2022 by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) that established a compensation system but said NCSL is not available to conduct a new review. The JFO issued a request for proposals, interviewed firms and sought the Joint Legislative Management Committee’s approval to hire a consultant. “This work is gonna cost some money. It’s $92,000 is the bid on it,” Benham said.

Benham asked the committee to consider modifying the language attached to the FY24 appropriation that funded a task force on economic development incentives — a task force she said did not convene — so the funds could be used for consulting services related to legislative‑staff compensation and organizational analysis. She said the change would be included in the budget adjustment and that staff would insert the correct section number in the bill before it is posted.

No vote or formal committee action was recorded during the presentation; Benham said the language would be reflected in the next version of the budget‑adjustment bill and invited questions from committee members.