OMB outlines administrative reforms, payroll transitions and vacancy pressures

The Office of Management and Budget presented a set of administrative reforms and operational changes to the Senate Finance Committee, saying the work is intended to improve service delivery while responding to tighter revenue forecasts.

Director Lacey Sanders said the administration has been implementing administrative orders focused on budget efficiencies (AO 359) and regulatory reform (AO 360). Contractors reviewed licensing and permitting processes and produced more than 50 recommendations to reduce duplication; OMB also published a grant dashboard to make state grants more transparent.

Sanders said some centralized functions previously handled by Shared Services of Alaska (travel and accounts payable) will transition back to individual departments, and payroll services will be phased back to agencies that requested them, with implementation steps through July 1. She described phased approaches and that agencies will work with the state accounting system (IRIS) to realign workflows.

On workforce, OMB provided a vacancy snapshot showing roughly 15,000 budgeted full‑time positions with just over 13,000 filled and an overall statewide vacancy rate cited at about 15.3 percent. Senators pressed for per‑agency vacancy factors and for median/mean waiver processing times; Sanders said vacancy factors vary by agency and that a waiver process and exemptions exist for critical roles such as troopers and correctional officers.

Senators warned that shifting work to implement regulatory reviews and administrative changes has opportunity costs and may delay other efficiency projects. Sanders said the administration is using existing staff and will post agency implementation plans online in early February so the committee and public can evaluate tradeoffs.

The committee requested follow-up materials: agency‑level vacancy factors, median waiver processing times, and the implementation roadmaps for AOs 359/360.