Executive committee approves legislative department FY2026–27 budget, citing benefits costs and bill offsets

The Executive Committee of the Legislative Council voted 5–0 to approve the legislative department budget request for fiscal year 2026–27 on a motion by the presiding officer.

Director Castle summarized the proposal and told members the package asks for a $1,400,000 increase — about 1.9% — to the general fund, bringing the legislative department general-fund request to just under $74,000,000 and total funds to about $75,800,000. "Happy to be here to present the budget request for fiscal year 26 to 27 for the legislative department," Director Castle said when beginning the presentation.

Castle said the primary driver of the requested increase is benefit-cost inflation: health, life and dental increases represent roughly 74% of the $1.4 million rise. Adjustments tied to prior-year legislation account for about 21% of the increase and are summarized in the booklet's table 3 (page 8).

Castle also outlined the fiscal effect of recently introduced legislation described in the materials. The fiscal impact of a bill cited in the booklet (referred to as House Bill 13 31) is described as a decrease of just under $400,000 and 3.3 full-time equivalent positions; Castle said most of that decrease is temporary but that the package contains about $58,000 and 0.6 FTE of permanent reductions. Castle added a later clarification about another bill: "We also have House Bill 13 32 which is the bill related to the legislative department cash fund. It transfers $12,000,000 from that fund to the general fund," and noted that compared with a prior-year transfer of $6,400,000 the net effect in the current package reduces pressure on the general fund by about $4,700,000 (a 7.1% decrease) for the year presented.

Members acknowledged staff work preparing the booklet and thanked legislative budget staff and agency directors for their contributions. Minority Leader Simpson said she would support the budget "but with some noted concerns," calling out roughly $477,000 in member compensation and benefits and about $470,000 in membership dues and COIAC expenses as areas she would like to scrutinize further.

The presiding officer moved to approve the legislative department budget request "as presented by legislative council staff." The motion was seconded (noted in the record as seconded by Majority Leader Duran) and passed on a roll-call vote of 5–0.

After the vote, members discussed sponsorship for the legislative appropriations bill. The chair said she would sponsor the bill in the House alongside the majority leader, and senators indicated willingness to sponsor or cosponsor in the Senate. Director DiCecco noted a separate sponsorship change on an interim committee bill, with the minority leader replacing the majority leader as joint prime sponsor and the majority leader becoming a cosponsor.

With no further business, the committee adjourned.