JFAC staff brief members on SharePoint, hearing schedule and new LSO impact team

BOISE — Committee staff demonstrated how JFAC members will access the legislative budget book and supporting materials through SharePoint and reviewed the committee hearing schedule and work-group structure during the Jan. 8 committee meeting.

Keith Bybee, division manager for Legislative Services Office (LSO) budget and policy analysis, described SharePoint as a document repository and showed members how to download agency budget books, analyst slide decks and agency presentations for use on iPads or personal devices. “Think of SharePoint as that same mechanism, the kind of repository for you to check each morning before you come in the committee or the night before,” Bybee told members.

Bybee walked members through a naming convention designed to reduce duplicate downloads and to group materials by agency and presentation type. He emphasized that downloaded files are read-only until saved to a member’s device, and staff will assist members individually with setup. The system mirrors OneDrive workflows members may already use.

The committee also received a walkthrough of the JFAC hearing schedule. Bybee and committee leadership said the first week functions as an orientation and that agency hearings and work groups will begin immediately: JFAC will typically meet 8:00–9:30 a.m., after which assigned work groups will convene to dig into the detail. The schedule calls for program-maintenance budgets to be set the week of Jan. 17, agency presentations in week 2, institutions of higher education in week 4, and targeted sets of agencies in subsequent weeks; the committee is projected to conclude its work in roughly 10 weeks.

Paul Headley, deputy chief at Legislative Services Office, introduced a newly assembled “impact review” team intended to support analysts with research, evaluation and evidence-gathering. Headley said the team can produce short briefs, longer analyses and geographic (GIS) products. He added the office also received fellows from a university policy program to assist on specialized research. Headley urged members to rely on evidence for program performance and asked them to consult LSO when they need data or literature reviews.

Bybee and LSO staff then introduced the budget and policy analysis team assigned to JFAC, naming deputy manager Jared Tetreault, data systems coordinator Shane Winslow, and a set of principal and new analysts who will support work groups and agency reviews. Committee leaders told new members to reach out to their assigned analysts promptly, because the committee will divide labor and rely on analysts’ detailed work.

The staff presentation closed with reminders that printed budget books remain available on request, that some iPads/Surface devices are available for markup, and that the session record (the public archive of presentations and recordings) is accessible from the legislature’s website for members and the public.

Ending Committee leaders recessed for a short break and scheduled agency-level hearings and work-group sessions to begin the following day. Staff said they will follow up individually to complete SharePoint access for members who need help.