JFAC staff walk members through SharePoint, session‑record tools and hearing schedule

Committee IT and budget staff explained how members and the public can access committee materials through SharePoint and the session record archive and walked through the JFAC hearing schedule for January–March.

Keith Bybee, Division Manager of the Budget and Policy Analysis Team at the Legislative Services Office, demonstrated how members should download the legislative budget book and agency presentations from the JFAC SharePoint site so PDFs can be annotated locally rather than left in read‑only mode. ‘‘If you just click on the file itself, you won't be able to make your notes on that file,’’ Bybee told the committee.

Why it matters: JFAC shared an organizational approach intended to reduce duplicate files and speed member access to materials, encourage use of iPads or Surface devices for annotation and to allow members and the public to replay agency presentations and review meeting materials through the session record archive.

What staff demonstrated and why - File organization and download: Bybee explained a naming convention that groups agency materials and separates analyst and agency presentations (for example, One‑049A for analyst and One‑049B for agency), and urged members to download files and save them locally to enable annotation. - Session record by agency: Staff showed the legislature’s session record (legislature.idaho.gov → Legislative Services → Budget and Policy → session record by agency) as the public archive for video, audio and presentation files; Bybee said the record is updated within a few days of meetings and includes interim meetings and prior years’ materials. - Sharing and devices: Staff said some iPads and Surface Pros are available for members to markup PDFs and that printed copies of the roughly 850‑page budget book remain available on request. - Hearing schedule and work groups: Bybee walked the committee through the 10‑week hearing schedule, explaining that JFAC sessions generally meet 8–9:30 a.m. with work‑group meetings beginning at 9:30 a.m. and that program maintenance budgets will be set in week 2 with enhancement hearings following week 3 onward; the committee aims to complete JFAC business in about 10 weeks.

Follow‑up and support Bybee and staff offered one‑on‑one help to members who had trouble linking their devices to SharePoint and encouraged members to contact analysts and staff assigned to their work groups. The session record and SharePoint are publicly accessible; the administration and LSO staff stressed transparency and availability of agency materials to members and the public.

Ending Staff paused the presentation to allow hands‑on assistance, then reviewed the hearing flow and returned the committee to its schedule. Committee chairs reminded members to use the tools and to coordinate with analysts ahead of agency hearings.