Budget committee reviews administration, appropriations process, and personnel funding practices

The Committee on General Government Budget spent the latter portion of its meeting reviewing how budget decisions moved through the legislative process, and discussed oversight of agency reappropriations, carryover FTE positions and the use of one-time federal funds.

Representative Turk said reviewing the governor's budget and Department of Administration at "high altitude" helped the committee understand agency decisions and one-time grant spending. He added that "a lot of these grants are very important, and the legislature needs to know where they go." Representative Turk urged members to use the committee's review to anticipate questions that will arise in the larger appropriations committee.

Committee members described several procedural changes made earlier in the session. A committee staff speaker summarized that enhancements and proposed FTE increases were removed during the initial legislative budget committee review and that reappropriations from State General Fund and EDIF were also scaled back. The transcript records: "All enhancements were removed. FTE increases ... were all removed. SGF reappropriations has already been mentioned. EDIF reappropriations were removed, as well as some major reductions to EDIF." The Economic Development Initiatives Fund was identified as a primary funding source for the Department of Commerce; staff said the fund required adjustments to reach a positive balance.

Representative Pickert, reflecting on his third year on the committee, asked how detailed the legislative budget committee review had been. A staff speaker said the legislative budget committee had been through all budgets in long sessions and that the process will likely be adjusted in future years to allow more time.

Members discussed scrutiny of empty or long-unfilled FTE positions. A committee member noted agencies that have budgeted positions but do not fill them often continue to spend the money on other items; the panel's approach was to require agencies to justify the positions in order to retain them in the budget.

The committee also discussed use and near-exhaustion of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) interest and one-time funds. One lawmaker cautioned members not to expect ARPA funding to be available in future budgets and said this year's allocations were largely the last tranche.

On compensation and statutory pay, a staff speaker identified the lieutenant governor's statutory formula: "the lieutenant governor shall receive ... an annual salary equal to 25% of the amount of the annual rate of pay for a member of Congress of the United States that is not in a leadership role." The staff speaker said the compensation statute was amended in the most recent compensation bill and became effective Jan. 1, 2025.

Several members praised the committee's work and urged continued attention to oversight and to providing clear information to appropriations. The chair said staff would provide additional background materials, including fiscal-facts references.