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Budget staff outline decision-unit model and budget-book structure for JFAC review
Summary
Legislative staff walked members through how budgets are built in decision units: original appropriation, midyear adjustments, expenditure adjustments, base resets, program maintenance and enhancements. Staff pointed members to the budget book pages and decision-detail reports on SharePoint.
Deputy budget manager Jared Tetrault and Legislative Services Office staff briefed the committee on the state's budget structure and how agency requests, governor recommendations, and legislative decisions are organized in the budget book.
Tetrault described the decision-unit model used by analysts and the six benchmark steps that lead from the current session's original appropriation to the next year's base. Those steps are: (1) original appropriation, (2) reappropriations and supplemental adjustments, (3) expenditure adjustments (including executive carry-forward and allowable executive transfers), (4) base adjustments to remove one-time items, (5) program-maintenance adjustments (benefit changes, contract inflation, statewide cost allocation, compensation), and (6) enhancements and the next year's original appropriation.
The nut graf: Tetrault told members the decision-unit structure is intended to keep changes transparent and auditable: analysts present changes as discrete decision units (DUs) so the committee can see what is base, what is maintenance, and what is a new enhancement.
Tetrault also reviewed the organization of the budget book: agency division summaries, fund analyses, comparative tables showing agency requests versus governor recommendations, and decision-unit detail pages for each request. He noted the book and supporting spreadsheets are posted to the committee SharePoint for members and the public.
Highlights for members: Tetrault explained the difference between agency request, governor recommendation, and legislative appropriation; clarified the definition of dedicated funds (funds other than general or federal); and described how self-governing agencies and divisions appear in program-maintenance bills. He described non-cognizable funds as a statutory mechanism that allows the executive to increase spending authority for certain non-state funds (for example, federal grants) without a formal appropriation by the legislature.
Ending: Tetrault offered to add missing presentation pages to the SharePoint and stood ready to provide the detailed decision-unit printouts members use in working groups.
