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JFAC staff demos SharePoint, lays out hearing schedule and new analyst resources
Summary
Legislative staff showed members how to access the JFAC budget book and session records via SharePoint, explained a new document naming convention, and described the committee's hearing schedule, workgroup structure and added Legislative Services Office (LSO) impact-review staff to support budget analysis.
Boise, Idaho ' During the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee's Jan. 8 orientation, Legislative Services Office staff demonstrated the committee's SharePoint system for accessing the legislative budget book and related documents and outlined this session's hearing schedule and workgroup process.
The demonstration, led by Keith Bybee, Division Manager of the Budget and Policy Analysis Team, instructed members how to download agency presentations and the budget book so PDFs can be annotated locally. "Think of SharePoint as that same mechanism," Bybee said, comparing it to OneDrive and other file repositories members already use.
The presentation explained a new file-naming convention meant to reduce duplicate downloads and make it easier for members to find agency materials; analysts'and agency presentations will share a common 5-digit code with suffixes (for example, analyst presentation 1-0049A and agency presentation 1-0049B). Staff also walked members through the session record on legislature.idaho.gov, which links meeting video and documents from prior days.
Why it matters: the committee will review hundreds of budget documents during session. Bybee said the SharePoint workflow is intended to let members carry digital or printed copies and to mark up documents on iPads, Surfaces or paper. He recommended downloading files to a local JFAC folder (select the circle to "select all," then Download) so files are editable rather than read-only.
Bybee and co-chairs outlined the committee's schedule and daily structure: JFAC will meet roughly 8 to 9:30 a.m.; workgroups will meet starting at about 9:30 a.m. so members can "divide and conquer" detailed budget review. The hearing schedule posted in SharePoint shows topic-by-week organization (health and welfare and secondary education early; transportation and natural resources later) and plans to complete JFAC business by mid-March.
Staffing and new resources: Bybee introduced the budget and policy analysis team assigned to members'workgroups and encouraged members to contact their assigned analysts. Paul Headley, LSO deputy chief, introduced a new legislative impact-review team made possible by recent resources. Headley described five staff (including Casey Hartwig, Alex Penny and Alex Hatfield) available to produce short research memos, 1'page briefs or deeper studies on evidence, program outcomes, GIS and IT issues.
Headley said the impact team will help answer questions such as "What's the evidence that this program works? Has it worked in other jurisdictions?" and that the team can point members to relevant data sources and evaluations.
Members asked procedural questions during the orientation: how to access previously adopted JFAC rules (the House side has not posted them and staff said the committee has relied on precedent), where to find the session record, and how the committee will treat replacement items (a designated hearing will review replacement items for agencies whose budgets are otherwise maintenance-only).
Ending: Staff said printed copies of the budget book are available on request, and that iPads/Surface devices can be provided. Members were told to contact analysts and staff for one-on-one help downloading or organizing files; workgroup assignments and the full hearing schedule are available in the JFAC SharePoint.
