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JFAC adopts SharePoint workflow for budget materials; LSO adds impact‑review analysts to support committees
Summary
Budget staff demonstrated SharePoint and the session record as primary document repositories and Legislative Services Office introduced new analysts and an impact‑review team to help JFAC members with data, evaluation and evidence requests.
Legislative budget staff showed members of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee on Jan. 8 how to use a new SharePoint workflow to access the legislative budget book, agency presentations and committee motion sheets, and Legislative Services Office leaders introduced an expanded analyst team and a new impact‑review unit to support the session.
Keith Bybee, Division Manager of the Budget and Policy Analysis Team, walked committee members through the SharePoint site the Legislature will use this session and demonstrated how members can download agency presentations, annotate PDFs and save organized copies to local drives. Bybee told the committee that SharePoint “mirrors the OneDrive that all of the House uses” and said each agency’s analyst and agency presentation would share a consistent naming convention to reduce duplicate downloads and ease searching.
Bybee demonstrated the public equivalent, the session record, and showed the path to access it from the Legislature’s website: legislature.idaho.gov → Legislative Services → Budget and Policy → session record by agency. He emphasized that documents made available in SharePoint are public and that staff can help members individually to get the system set up on personal devices. The committee was told that a limited number of iPads and Surface Pros are available for members who prefer tablet annotation.
Paul Headley, deputy chief at the Legislative Services Office, introduced a new impact‑review team that will provide short research memos, one‑ and two‑page summaries and deeper topical research for committees and analysts. Headley said the new analysts can answer targeted questions and help identify evidence about whether a program has worked in Idaho or in other states. “As I’ve looked at performance measures … there’s one theme that continues to rise to the top and that’s evidence,” Headley told the committee.
LSO staff also introduced analysts who will serve as primary contacts during the session: Jared Tetreault (deputy manager, Budget & Policy Analysis), Shane Winslow (data systems coordinator), Janet Jessup (principal analyst, natural resources and appropriations bill coordinator), Frances Lippitt (capital budgets), Alex Williamson (health and welfare), Brooke Dupree (transportation, Commerce, Labor), Tamara Figueredo (office coordinator), and new analysts Kevin Campbell (secondary education), Noah Peterson (public safety), Kellen McGurkin (general government) and Chris Lahoset (statewide elected officials and public defender assignments). Headley also named impact‑review analysts Casey Hartwig, Alex Penny and Alex Hatfield and research fellows placed through the McClure Center.
Committee leaders said the change aims to reduce printing of the multi‑hundred‑page legislative budget book and to let members work from annotated digital copies while providing public access. Staff said training would be available by request and that the session record archive allows members of the public to replay committee hearings, retrieve slide decks and review agency presentations from prior days.
The committee did not take formal action on the technology or staffing at the Jan. 8 meeting; staff said they will provide individual, hands‑on help to members who need assistance connecting their devices and using the naming convention and session‑record tools.
