LBA staff brief Finance Division I on fiscal notes, HB1/HB2 process and March deadlines

Good afternoon, Division 1, and welcome. Melissa Rollins, senior financial analyst with the Legislative Budget Assistant (LBA) office, told Finance Division I members at a committee briefing that the fiscal note—s expenditure line is not the same as an appropriation and that a zero appropriation means an agency lacks authorization to spend.

Rollins said, "This bill does not provide funding nor does it authorize new positions," illustrating the distinction between an agency—s estimated cost (expenditure) and legislative authorization to spend (appropriation). She walked members through examples showing a bill with expenditure estimates but an appropriation line of $0 and explained how that affects whether an agency can hire staff or begin program work.

The clarification matters because Division 1 will review both HB 1 (operating budget) and HB 2 (appropriations/amendments) and must decide whether to add appropriations or position authorizations by amendment, hold bills for more information, or decline requests. Rollins and Jack Mullen, the LBA assistant who joined the team this year, described the office—s tracking sheets for HB1 and HB2 that the division will use to record additional agency requests, approved changes, and new HB2 sections.

Rollins said Division 1 typically retains bills and, where appropriate, places them into HB 2: "Page 20 was all the new sections that we added into HB2. That reverts back to what we were previously talking about, where the division will retain bills and then add those bills with appropriations into HB 2." She emphasized that members should route any amendment requests through Rollins or Mullen to avoid tracking problems.

On timing, Rollins outlined the committee schedule the LBA expects: the governor—s presentation likely around Feb. 12—13 (so it precedes the statutory Feb. 15 submission), agency presentations beginning the week of Feb. 17—20, and a hard internal target of about March 26 for Division 1 work so that Division 1—s final package can be presented to full finance around March 31—April 2 and be out of full finance by April 3. She warned members the biennial budget for this cycle will be tight, saying the staff expects revenue declines and will be "very ruthless with approving requests for more money or more personnel." Representative Munz asked for clarification about how appropriation and position authorization interact; Rollins and other members explained that authorizing a new position requires specific statutory authorization and classification details before an agency may hire.

Rollins also described LBA documents members will rely on: an HB1 tracking sheet listing agency additional requests, an HB2 tracking sheet identifying sections that affect Division 1, and a detailed-change sheet that lists accounting-unit changes with comments that will be used for the full finance presentation. She noted DOIT/Department of Information Technology position authorizations can appear as interagency transfers in the accounting lines (e.g., a general-fund appropriation to support positions whose costs are transferred to OIT).

Logistics and next steps: Rollins and Mullen encouraged members to email either analyst with questions (they will route inquiries internally) and said committee agency overview meetings will begin the following Wednesday and continue on most Wednesdays for the next several weeks. The staff asked members to plan to be present for Wednesdays during the busiest period.