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Appropriations Committee staff explains 'purple sheets' process for reviewing Armstrong budget recommendations
Summary
Legislative Council fiscal staff walked members through the 'purple sheets' — documents showing how Governor Armstrong's budget differs from the prior recommendation and the base budget — and advised members on which sheets to use during division hearings.
Committee fiscal staff summarized the committee's process for reviewing executive budget recommendations and introduced the “purple sheets” that reflect Governor Armstrong's changes to the earlier Burgum recommendations.
Alex Kronquist of the Legislative Council told members the purple sheets present Armstrong's recommendation and identify changes made from the prior governor's (Burgum) proposal. He said the purple sheet highlights items that changed from the Burgum recommendation and that the blue sheets contain base‑level historical information; the white (base budget) sheet is the stripped‑down bill that does not include funding pools or new initiatives and is the document members would amend to add new funding.
Kronquist said, “If it was made in the Armstrong budget but not in the Burgum budget, it would be identified on the purple sheet. However, if there was a recommendation in the Burgum budget that was removed by Armstrong, it would not be identified on the purple sheet, but it will be on this long sheet that I'll be going through next.”
Staff explained a concrete example: the Armstrong budget reduced the annual salary increase line from 4% (in the Burgum recommendation) to 3%; that change appears on the purple worksheet. Committee members were reminded that the white base‑budget sheet does not include the new and vacant FTE pools or other funding pool monies — those must be inserted by amendment if the committee wants to reflect the executive's recommended funding.
The committee chair instructed members to work with Legislative Council fiscal staff in division hearings to review agency worksheets and the purple/blue/white materials; division hearings were scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. following the full‑committee session.
No formal committee action was taken on the purple sheets during the full committee meeting; the staff briefing was procedural guidance to inform upcoming division work.
