Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Process Structure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
JFAC staff outline program maintenance structure: 10 appropriation bills, CEC added to maintenance
Summary
JFAC budget staff explained how program maintenance appropriations will be organized into 10 functional bills, what items belong in maintenance versus enhancement bills, and the schedule for hearings and decisions ahead of the committee—s budget votes.
Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget Policy Analysis, briefed the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on the structure and timing for program maintenance appropriation bills, explaining why staff organized maintenance requests into 10 functional areas and what items will be included in maintenance versus enhancement bills.
Bybee said the program maintenance bills are meant to start from the prior-year base and add the building-block adjustments — personnel and benefit cost changes, contract inflation, statewide cost allocation (SWCAP), and the Change in Employee Compensation (CEC) adjustments — so that the committee can judge ongoing, recurring costs separately from enhancement requests. He said enhancement bills will instead capture replacement items, general inflation requests, population-forecast adjustments (formerly called nondiscretionary items), and other growth items such as Medicaid caseload changes.
Bybee described the practical reasons for 10 bills: grouping related agencies while keeping separate the legislative branch and statewide elected officials (the governor's office, controller, secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general). He also said two replacement-item categories will be visible separately: IT replacement and regular replacement items, to give the committee clearer visibility into cyber/infrastructure needs.
Staff told the committee they plan an initial hearing on the adjustments, including statewide impacts by fund source, and then decision-making on those program maintenance bills on Friday the 17th (date referenced in the meeting). Bybee reminded members that setting a program maintenance baseline does not preclude the committee from adding or subtracting items later — he cited last year—s change separating the Department of Commerce and the Office of Broadband as an example of post-baseline adjustments.
Several members asked procedural and preparatory questions; staff said detailed legislative budget book materials will be available and encouraged members to review agency-level material ahead of the hearings.
No formal vote was required on this presentation; staff will present program maintenance packets and bill language at the scheduled hearings.
