JFAC adds $250,000 and 3 FTE to military division to support EMS transfer from Health and Welfare

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Oct. 26 approved a budget-trailer addition for House Bill 206 that provides $250,000 and three full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to the Military Division’s military management program to support a pending transfer of emergency medical services (EMS) functions from the Department of Health and Welfare.

Frances Lippett, a budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the committee the funding will pay personnel costs to provide procurement, fiscal, human-resources and administrative support housed in the military management program. Lippett said the military management program “houses the administrative fiscal human resources and procurement functions for the division” and explained that the military division has far fewer support staff than the Department of Health and Welfare. “The military division has 435 FTP, compared to 3,000,” she said, and that difference means the military division will need additional FTE to perform administrative tasks formerly handled within Health and Welfare.

Lippett also told the committee the motion would provide three additional FTE and that, when compared to personnel moved from Health and Welfare to the Military Division, the military division would net one additional FTE under the proposal.

Representative Price questioned why more employees were needed in the military division than under Health and Welfare; Lippett replied that economies of scale at Health and Welfare allow internal support staff to spread workload across many programs, a support structure the smaller military division lacks.

Senator Bjerke, addressing committee members, urged support for relocating EMS and restructuring the program, saying the military division had analyzed the workload and that the fiscal note change was appropriate.

The motion to add $250,000 and three FTE was offered by Senator Burkey and seconded by Representative Galaviz. The committee approved the trailer on a roll-call vote; the motion passed with 16 ayes and 4 nays and was forwarded with a do-pass recommendation.

Why it matters: The funding lays administrative groundwork for moving EMS operations and staffing from the Department of Health and Welfare into the Military Division, changing where procurement and administrative functions will be handled and increasing the Military Division’s staffing for that program area.