Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Process topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
LSO outlines new, condensed budget hearing format and where to find materials
Summary
Janet Jessup of LSO walked JFAC through the restructured budget hearing materials and the SharePoint/legislative budget-book organization the committee will use during the session; she reviewed consolidated fund analyses, organizational charts, 5-year trends and account-category rules.
Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, guided the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee through the committee—s updated budget hearing format and the legislative budget materials repository on Jan. 7.
The briefing summarized standard items that will appear for each agency presentation: a short agency description and applicable code references, an organizational chart with FTP (full-time personnel) counts and vacancy information, a consolidated fund analysis for dedicated funds, five-year appropriation and expenditure trends, a breakout of expenditures by account category (personnel costs, operating expenditures, trustee and benefit payments, capital outlay), and a list of recent enhancements and supplementals.
Why it matters: The committee moved from three-hour daily presentations to 90-minute morning sessions focused on decision items and current-year adjustments. Jessup demonstrated how materials are organized in SharePoint and the legislative budget book, including a new 'Audits' tab and hot links that connect agencies to open findings and related reports.
Highlights for members
- Organizational charts will show FTP distribution and average five-year vacancy and fill rates so members can quickly assess where agency resources are concentrated.
- Consolidated fund analyses provide beginning and ending balances for an agency—s dedicated funds and code references; dedicated funds are restricted to the agency and use specified in statute.
- Expenditure pie charts for the most recently completed fiscal year (FY 2024) will show where agencies spent in account categories and support follow-up questions about trends (for example increased professional services or trustee payments).
- The legislative budget book and SharePoint structure: materials are organized by agency and document type (LBB pages, LSO budget slides, agency slides, hearing follow-up). Jessup recommended sorting by modified date to find the most recent uploads rather than re-downloading entire folders.
Committee housekeeping
Co-chairs emphasized attendance and timely arrivals to the 90-minute JFAC sessions because the committee will consider many bills and work-group members may be asked to vote on items outside their assigned work groups. Members may request analysts— help for specific account-category or vacancy questions.
Ending
Jessup said printed materials and a fiscal source book excerpt on dedicated funds and account categories will be available to members and analysts will be available for follow-up questions during agency hearings.
