Joint Fiscal Office briefs Institutions Committee on capital bill spreadsheet, bonding and cash funds

Scott Moore, analyst at the Joint Fiscal Office, briefed the Senate Institutions Committee on Jan. 14 about how the capital bill—s spreadsheet is structured, how the governor's recommendations feed into House and Senate changes, and how bonded and cash funds are tracked.

Moore said the governor will provide a recommended spreadsheet early in the session and that the document the committee uses will contain columns reflecting the governor—s recommendations, the House changes and the Senate changes as the bill moves through the process. "The governor will give us a spreadsheet of their recommendations in a couple weeks," he said, noting the committee will usually be reconciling the first-year and second-year (biennial) figures and that some projects are adjusted between years.

Moore explained bonded funds pay for capital projects through general-obligation bonds and that the committee also reviews cash-funded items that the administration prefers to pay without issuing bonds (for example, early planning costs such as design or architectural work). He showed how the committee previously reallocated unspent amounts and how the House and Senate columns reflect changes made at each step. Moore cited the prior biennium—s work that centered around a roughly $108 million capital recommendation, with adjustments and reconciliations as the committee and the House amended figures.

Members discussed agencies that will appear frequently in the bill, especially Buildings and General Services (BGS), which handles state-owned buildings and maintenance. Moore and counsel urged members to become familiar with the spreadsheet line items because committee members are often asked about specific allocations during floor reporting. No binding funding decisions were made at the briefing; staff offered to provide detailed weekly walkthroughs of the spreadsheet.