Appropriations committee reviews base-budget worksheets, prepares for Armstrong budget release

At a meeting of the Appropriations - Government Operations Division, committee staff briefed members on a new base-level worksheet and the materials members will use when the Armstrong executive budget is released.

The new “blue sheet” is a base-level worksheet that shows an agency’s ongoing appropriation, historical appropriations back roughly four bienniums and continuing appropriations, staff said. Committee staff said the current statewide base level of funding shown in committee materials is $9,869,000,000. The blue sheet lists agency-specific continuing appropriations and unique items; staff used the Office of Trust Lands as an example of an agency with multiple continuing appropriations and administrative fees collected from various funds.

Committee staff described the three colors of materials members will use this session: blue sheets (base-level worksheets), green sheets (the Burgum administration’s executive recommendation), and purple sheets (the Armstrong administration’s recommendation). Committee staff said the green sheets show Burgum’s proposed changes, including FTE adjustments and proposed bill sections; the purple sheets, to be released with Armstrong’s recommendation, will mirror the green sheets’ format but reflect Armstrong’s proposals. ‘‘If we were to put the governor’s budget in here, which governor would you put?’’ Committee staff said, summarizing why the base budget materials do not include a single executive recommendation.

Senator Brady, chairman of the Appropriations - Government Operations Division, said he favored using the Armstrong budget as the working long sheet because Armstrong is the current governor and most agencies will present to the committee using Armstrong’s recommendations. ‘‘I guess, my thought process is why wouldn't we go with the Armstrong budget? He's the current governor,’’ Senator Brady said.

Staff told the committee the long sheet that members will work from will be created after Armstrong’s recommendation is released. Staff said Armstrong’s recommendation will be released Wednesday morning in a joint session, and the office will produce purple sheets and a long sheet that committees can mark up to indicate agreement or disagreement with proposed items.

Committee members asked about several procedural matters. They discussed a continuing-appropriation question related to a financial-institutions budget (identified in the discussion as bill 2008). Committee staff recommended keeping that continuing appropriation in place for now so the Senate bill can be forwarded to the next chamber while the House considers its version. Staff said retaining the bill vehicle would avoid having to resurrect or delay a bill at the end of session if the other chamber makes different choices.

Members also noted a difference between Burgum and Armstrong on a revenue/fund routing question: Burgum’s recommendation included routing unclaimed property to the State Treasury, while staff said Armstrong’s draft may not. Committee staff said the State Treasurer testified earlier this morning under the assumption unclaimed property would go to the treasurer’s office, indicating the treasurer may not have been briefed on any Armstrong change.

The committee also reviewed FTE reporting in the blue sheets: staff said historical FTE changes listed on the blue sheets roll up to the base-level FTE total (the example in committee materials showed 33 base-level FTE for the illustrative agency). Staff cautioned the blue sheets reflect past legislative appropriations and do not include executive-recommendation proposals.

The committee scheduled related procedural items: a joint session at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow with the House Appropriations Committee to receive the S&P revenue forecast, and an OMB revenue-consultant update in March to finalize the revenue forecast. Staff said they will continue to prepare long sheets and report back on specific continuing-appropriation logistics for the financial-institutions bill.

No formal motions or final votes were recorded during the discussion on the base-budget materials; committee staff said formal action will follow once members have the Armstrong long sheet and decide which items to adopt into the legislative budget.

Committee staff and members asked that staff check a handful of logistics and return with clarified long sheets and any side-by-side comparisons members request. The meeting adjourned for committee work after scheduling the revenue-forecast briefings.