Committee pushes for clearer, accountability-driven agency budget testimony

The Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee on Jan. 30 discussed a chair-drafted memorandum asking agencies to provide more useful, accountability-focused budget testimony ahead of hearings.

The chair said the memo was written after committee members were “very disappointed” by last year’s testimony and aims to make witnesses answer four core questions: what problem the request addresses, who it helps, whether the proposal is cost-effective and how it would be administered. “The worst answer someone can give is, ‘we'll get back to you,’” the chair said, urging staff to provide a time certain when follow-up is needed.

Members were told to request baseline budget and legislative-report materials in advance and to use testimony time to clarify underlying problems rather than only focusing on “ups and downs” (requests for more or less money). The chair used the recent Agency of Human Services (AHS) appearance as an example: divisions presenting a united view helped appropriators understand cross-cutting needs and reduced siloed responses.

Lawmakers pressed for practical tools. Several members said the memo would be useful across policy committees and recommended that newer legislators attend a Joint Fiscal Office session to learn how to read green-book spreadsheets and spot where agency programs may be redundant or unfunded despite remaining on the books.

The chair also discussed how to approach competing priorities in an austerity year, noting that big-ticket choices—such as whether to use surplus funds for property tax relief or program investments—are ultimately constrained by leadership. He encouraged policy members to prioritize and build advocacy coalitions, citing a recent example in which the committee secured an additional $150,000 to lift a program line from $250,000 to $400,000 for Vermonters Feeding Vermonters.

Next steps: the committee plans follow-up training with JFO and to apply the memo’s checklist in upcoming agency hearings; members were reminded that some answers may require time-certain follow-ups with administration staff.