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Committee narrows morning hearings, uses SharePoint and one‑page summaries to speed budget work
Summary
JFAC co‑chairs and analysts described a retooled hearing format that shortens presentations to 90 minutes each morning, centralizes materials in SharePoint, and provides standardized budget slides to help members focus on maintenance and current‑year enhancements.
Janet Jessup, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, and JFAC co‑chairs briefed the committee on Jan. 7 about changes to the committee’s budget hearing process, including condensed presentations, standardized slides, and improved SharePoint access to materials.
Jessup said every agency presentation will include a standardized set of slides: an agency description and organizational chart, full‑time‑position counts and vacancies, a consolidated fund analysis showing dedicated funds and balances, five‑year appropriation and expenditure trends, an account‑category expenditure pie chart (personnel costs, operating expenditures, capital outlay, trustee & benefit payments), and a five‑year “base snapshot” that separates ongoing and one‑time changes.
The committee will reduce in‑room presentation time to 90 minutes each morning and rely more on the published SharePoint packet for detail. Jessup described a SharePoint layout that places the legislative budget book pages, LSO slides, agency slides and hearing follow‑up materials in a consistent order and recommended sorting by the modified date to find newly uploaded files. She said analysts added vacancy and five‑year average FTP data to the standard slides so members can better evaluate personnel‑cost patterns and one‑time salary‑savings issues.
Co‑chairs urged members to attend the condensed hearings punctually because the sessions are the primary opportunity for the full committee to hear analytic summaries on agencies members might not otherwise review in their work groups. They also asked members to notify chairs in advance if they must be absent or step out for another committee assignment.
Ending: The committee will begin the retooled hearing schedule the following week and members were told printed copies and online folder links are available for immediate use.
