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JFAC shortens daily presentations and centralizes budget materials on SharePoint, staff say
Summary
Janet Jessup of the Legislative Services Office explained on Jan. 7 that Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee presentations have been condensed to 90 minutes, standardized slides will include consolidated fund analyses and five‑year trends, and materials will be published and searchable on SharePoint to improve transparency and efficiency.
BOISE, Idaho — Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Jan. 7 that the committee’s budget hearings will use a condensed format and a shared online repository to make material more accessible and reduce in‑room presentation time.
Jessup said each agency presentation will follow a standard format: agency description and statutory citations, organizational chart and full‑time personnel (FTP) counts, a consolidated fund analysis that shows dedicated funds, five‑year appropriation and expenditure trends, fiscal‑year expenditure breakdowns by account category and a review of recent ongoing and one‑time enhancements.
She told members the presentations will include a breakout of account categories used in Idaho budgeting — personnel costs (PC), trustee and benefit payments (T&B), operating expenditures (OE), and capital outlay — and that analysts will flag vacancies, five‑year FTP averages and other context to help legislators evaluate requests.
SharePoint and the budget book
Jessup demonstrated the SharePoint repository the Legislative Services Office has prepared. Materials for each agency will include LSO slides, Legislative Budget Book pages, agency slides, and hearing follow‑up documents, all organized so committee members can sort by modification date or agency name. She said the goal is to avoid repeatedly downloading entire folders and to provide quick access to links such as audit reports, federal funds summaries and fund‑by‑fund details.
Other points
- Consolidated fund analysis: Jessup said dedicated funds are specific to an agency and cannot generally be spent by another agency; the consolidated fund analysis shows beginning and ending balances and recent trends. - Five‑year base snapshot: Presentations will separate ongoing base changes from one‑time enhancements so members can see whether increases persist in future budgets. - Vacancy and personnel context: Slides will show current vacancies and a five‑year average FTP to help identify whether a current vacancy rate is typical or anomalous.
Jessup told the committee the materials are intended to help members who are assigned to particular workgroups as well as other members who need to vote on the hundreds of bills the committee will produce during the session.
Ending
Committee co‑chairs and members praised the new format and staff work, saying the condensed presentations, searchable materials and links to audits and fund details will help the committee move through agency hearings more efficiently.
