JFAC approves program maintenance budgets across state agencies; public schools, health & human services and major branches get maintenance funding

The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Jan. 17 advanced program maintenance budgets for a broad set of state agencies and functional areas, including the legislative and judicial branches, constitutional officers, public safety, general government, economic development, natural resources, the State Board of Education, public schools and Health and Human Services.

Committee staff described the program maintenance process as setting ongoing operational budgets by starting from the FY2026 base appropriation (removing one‑time funding), adding decision units enacted earlier (notably statewide cost allocation and, where applicable, contract inflation), and then authorizing the resulting program maintenance budget. Analysts and presenters from the Legislative Services Office guided members through comparative reports for each functional area and noted where statutory transfers or exemptions are customarily included in appropriation language.

Notable presentations and procedural moves Analyst Terry Bybee (Legislative Services) walked the committee through the statewide “program maintenance” construct and a statewide total cited during the presentation: about $12.6 billion as a working statewide program-maintenance figure. Presenters for discrete functional areas included Frances Lippitt (general government), Brooke Dupree (economic development), Janet Jessup (natural resources and State Board of Education segments), Jared Tatro (public schools), and Alex Williamson (Health and Human Services). Committee members moved and adopted the budgets in groups with recorded roll-call votes.

The State Board of Education and public schools received detailed language reviews; committee members approved both the…