House Fiscal Agency panel approves Q1 report; director says 99% of recent spending covered salaries and benefits

At a meeting of the House Fiscal Agency Governing Committee, members approved the agency's first-quarter report after Director Mary Anne Cleary said nearly all October and November expenditures were for personnel-related costs.

"99% of those expenditures are really on our salary wages, retirement, health care costs, with a couple other things," House Fiscal Agency Director Mary Anne Cleary said during her presentation of the Q1 quarterly report. Cleary described the report as "pretty light" and noted the figures reflected October and November spending.

The committee approved the minutes from its Sept. 25 quarterly meeting by unanimous consent after Speaker Tate moved to approve. The committee later voted to approve the quarterly report; the clerk called the roll and recorded votes of yes from Chair Whitworth, Speaker Tate, Representative Zayosh Leitner? and Posthumous, with the clerk announcing "4 yea, 0 nay, 0 pass." Representative Posthumous then moved to excuse absent members; the motion carried without objection and the meeting was adjourned.

Cleary used the meeting to thank committee members for their ongoing support of the agency and offered seasonal greetings to the group. Beyond the staffing-related spending noted in her summary, Cleary did not identify additional substantive expenditures or new budget actions during the brief presentation.

The committee took no further public action on policy changes or new appropriations at this meeting; the chief outcomes were acceptance of the Q1 report, approval of prior minutes, and the formal excusal of absent members before adjournment.