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Staff outline program-maintenance budget structure, schedule for JFAC hearings
Summary
Division of Budget Policy Analysis staff outlined the committee's program maintenance bills structure, what they include (benefit cost adjustments, contract inflation, SWICAP, CEC), how enhancement bills differ, and the schedule for hearings next week.
Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget Policy Analysis, briefed the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on the office's approach to program maintenance appropriations bills and the committee schedule.
Bybee said program maintenance will be organized into 10 functional appropriations bills covering major areas of state government. He explained why certain items are separated: the legislative branch and statewide elected officials are treated separately from the executive-branch general government grouping; the Judicial Branch and Public Safety are separated even though the budget book lists Judicial with Public Safety for organizational convenience; and public school support and higher-education agencies are grouped distinctly.
What goes in the program maintenance bills: Bybee said maintenance bills will include the base appropriation and adjustments between benchmark 4 and benchmark 5 in the legislative budget process: personnel benefit cost adjustments (including changes from the CEC and health insurance), contract inflation (ongoing vendor and lease inflation), statewide cost allocations (SWICAP), and other adjustments. He said the intent this year is to include the full CEC in program maintenance rather than a separate adjustment, to standardize decision-making.
What goes in enhancement bills: Replacement items (including a separate decision unit for IT replacement items), general inflation requests, non-base population forecast adjustments (formerly labeled "non-discretionary"), and policy-driven enhancements will be taken up in enhancement bills to allow more detailed committee review. Bybee said population forecast adjustments are often large and were moved to enhancement to provide more opportunity for review rather than automatic adjustments.
Schedule and process: Bybee reviewed the committee schedule: an initial hearing to describe adjustments and statewide impacts is planned for Wednesday, followed by decision-making on the program maintenance budgets on Friday. He reminded members that setting a program maintenance budget does not preclude later adjustments; the committee can add or subtract items during deliberations.
Ending: Staff emphasized that the maintenance/enhancement split is designed to give the legislature greater visibility and control over growth items such as Medicaid and other forecast-driven adjustments.
