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JFAC staff outline condensed budget‑hearing format, public SharePoint resource
Summary
LSO analysts described a shorter, more focused JFAC hearing format and a reorganized SharePoint and legislative budget site where members can access agency budget pages, audits and fund‑by‑fund data during the session.
Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, walked the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee through the revised budget hearing process on Jan. 7, explaining the content committee members will see and how to access materials.
Jessup said presentations have been shortened and standardized so members receive a consistent set of slides for each agency: agency description and statutory references, organizational structure and full‑time personnel counts, a consolidated fund analysis showing dedicated funds, a five‑year appropriation and expenditure trend, three years of budget enhancements, and a breakdown of fiscal‑year expenditures by account categories (personnel costs, operating expenditures, capital outlay, trustee and benefit payments).
She emphasized the consolidated fund analysis as a tool to review dedicated funds that an agency may only spend for statutory purposes. Jessup noted the materials will show fund balances year‑over‑year and include links to code citations so members can check legal restrictions and revenue sources.
Jessup said new slides will include vacancy and FTP‑fill data, five‑year averages and a pie chart of fiscal‑year expenditures by account category to help members spot trends and questions to ask during hearings. She reminded members that personnel savings (PC) may reflect unfilled positions or one‑time circumstances and cautioned that one‑time salary savings should not be treated as ongoing funding for salary increases.
She demonstrated where materials will be posted in SharePoint: agency folders sorted by page number, with separate PDFs for legislative budget book pages, LSO slides, agency slides and hearing follow‑up documents. Jessup told members to sort by modified date to find recent uploads and avoid repeatedly downloading large folders.
Committee co‑chairs and members praised the reorganized materials and urged members to attend the 90‑minute daily hearings, use the materials to inform work‑group deliberations, and review audit and open‑finding links included in the budget pages. Jessup said printed reference guides and a chart of account categories will be made available to members.
