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Senate appropriations panel reviews Commerce budget; committee discusses restoring FTE pool, salary cost-to-continue and development fund staffing
Summary
The Senate Appropriations Committee reviewed the Department of Commerce budget, including restoration of the 2023–25 new and vacant FTE pool to agency budgets, proposed 3% salary increases, IT cost adjustments, and a request to fill a vacant Development Fund position.
Chairman Wanzek convened the Government Operations division budget review and directed staff to walk the committee through the Commerce long sheet line by line.
The committee examined ongoing budget changes that include restoring amounts previously removed as part of the 2023–25 new and vacant FTE pool, proposed salary increases, and information technology cost adjustments. "Anytime you're authorizing salary increases, there's always a cost to continue that in the following biennium," staff member Levi said, describing the "cost to continue" calculation used to reflect salary increases in the 2025–27 biennium. He added that restoring last session's FTE pool can make the percentage increase over base appear larger even when the net effect is to restore prior funding.
Why it matters: Restoring pulled FTE pool dollars into individual agency budgets affects percentage-change math used in public comparisons of budgets and can change how year‑to‑year increases are perceived. Committee members asked staff to clarify the difference between one‑time and ongoing funding and requested time to review emailed reports that staff had just circulated.
On pay and benefits,…
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