JFAC hears program-maintenance plan and sales-tax distribution analysis; staff flags reduced general-fund share

Budget staff briefed the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on the committees program maintenance approach, the sequencing of hearings, and a detailed breakdown of sales-tax distributions that have reduced the share of gross sales tax dollars flowing to the general fund.

Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget Policy Analysis, explained that the program maintenance work is organized into 10 functional appropriation bills covering major areas of state government. Bybee said program maintenance will include the base budget plus four common building blocks: benefit cost adjustments (including CEC and health insurance), contract inflation, statewide cost allocation (SWCAP), and other adjustments. Bybee told members the intent is to include all CEC-related changes in the program maintenance bills this year rather than in a separate bill.

Bybee described the split between program maintenance bills and enhancement bills. Enhancement bills will include replacements (regular and IT), population-forecast adjustments (formerly called "non-discretionary"), general inflation requests, and other new…