Date: 01/13/2014
Final
Briefing by Fiscal Note staff
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
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01:31 PM -- Briefing by Fiscal Note staff
Representative Hamner welcomed the members of the committee, audience, and presenters. She explained the committee's agenda for the day and welcomed Josh Abram as the first speaker.
Mr. Abram explained that Fiscal Notes staff give a short talk to each committee at the beginning of each session to explain fiscal notes, the role of fiscal analysts, and the services provided to legislators.
Mr. Abram introduced himself and the other members of Legislative Council Staff that were present. He reminded the committee members that fiscal analysts are available to assist legislators by discussing the fiscal impact of bills. He explained that fiscal analysts take ownership of their analyses and that despite their reliance on agency and program staff for information, the final analysis is done by fiscal analysts. He urged committee members to direct questions about the fiscal impact of bills to fiscal analysts.
Mr. Abram explained that Colorado law allows k-12 districts to have a formal role in the creation of fiscal notes. He informed committee members that fiscal analysts often request information from budget staff of k-12 schools or districts. He urged committee members to disclose their preferences about this matter with the fiscal analysts assigned to their bills.
Mr. Abram informed committee members that Legislative Council Staff has updated the format of fiscal notes in an effort to streamline information and compress the documents, and he urged committee members to ask any questions they may have. He informed committee members of the update to two Legislative Council Staff documents: School Finance in Colorado and Public School Accountability (Attachments A and B). He provided copies of these documents for distribution to committee members.
14HseEd0113AttachA.pdf 
14HseEd0113AttachB.pdf
Mr. Abram responded to questions from the committee.