JFAC staff demonstrate SharePoint, hearing schedule and document workflow for new members

Keith Bybee, Division Manager for the Legislative Services Office’s Budget and Policy Analysis Team, walked members of the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee through the legislature’s SharePoint repository for the committee’s legislative budget book and agency presentations on Jan. 8.

Bybee described the SharePoint site as a OneDrive‑style repository that mirrors public files available through the legislature’s session record. He demonstrated a new file‑naming convention intended to reduce duplicate downloads and to make it easier for members to group agency materials and analyst presentations (for example, a single agency’s analyst and agency decks would share a numeric prefix and follow a A/B suffix convention).

Why it matters: New and returning members were shown how to download files for local annotation (Bybee stressed users must download to edit rather than open in read‑only mode) and how to link files into a personal folder on their devices. Staff also made iPads and Surface devices available for members who prefer to annotate PDFs with a stylus.

Bybee also reviewed how the public can access the same materials via the legislature’s website: legislature.idaho.gov → Legislative Services → Budget and Policy → Session Record by Agency. He said video and audio recordings and the linked documents will be archived so members and the public can review previous hearings.

He walked the committee through the JFAC hearing schedule that staff published in SharePoint. Key points: • Week 1: orientation, governor’s budget presentation, DFM updates and background briefings; work groups begin meeting after committee sessions. • Week 2: program maintenance hearings start (Health and Welfare, secondary education, etc.); Friday of week 2 scheduled to set program maintenance budgets. • Week 3 onward: agency budget presentations continue and the committee will set enhancement and budget‑setting sessions on weeks 3–10; staff projected JFAC work concluding around mid‑March.

Bybee highlighted a new approach this year for replacement and repair items: rather than omitting agency hearings when a department requests only replacement items, the committee will dedicate time to review replacement item requests (for example, IT security and infrastructure, fleet replacements) in a single session to allow members to ask staff clarifying questions.

Members asked for additional one‑on‑one SharePoint support; Bybee said staff would provide individual help to set up downloads and folders. Committee co‑chairs and staff encouraged members to work closely with assigned analysts and attend work‑group meetings to prepare for line‑by‑line budget review.