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Hello DHS,
We're about halfway through session, and I thought it would be a good time to check
in. We just finished Phase I of Ways and Means, which is our chance to tell our story. I hope
you had a chance to take a look at the PowerPoint presentations we sent out. They include a
lot of really valuable information that should make you feel good about all the work you've
been doing these last 18 months, and also really ground you in the work ahead. Irrespective
of where the budget lands, in most cases we're going to be moving forward on the strategic
agendas that are laid out there. Please take a look at those presentations.
We're at the point right now in the session where there's really not a lot going on
for us. Sometimes it's hard to communicate about things that aren't happening, but
it's just as important for you to know that there is no secret plan, and that there are
a lot of moving pieces -- and there will continue to be, probably until that May revenue
forecast which comes out the first or second week of May.
Moving pieces that we're watching include things like PERS reform, sentencing reform
issues, the tax pieces that are moving through the process. We're advocating at the federal
level for revenue that should help augment our budget. There are federal budget and policy
issues moving that are making changes for us, so there's a lot of different moving
parts that need to land, and the Legislature waits until they're a little closer to the
end of session (which is scheduled for the end of June) before they make all those decisions
so they can make them based on the most current information that they have.
So we're really in that place. They're on the road, talking to constituents about
budgets and what's important and that will continue for the next few weeks, and then
things will start to move a little more quickly through the process in the beginning to mid-May.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us doing the important work that we do every
day. Thank you for your Continuous Improvement ideas. Please keep them coming. They are really
influencing the conversation, multiple ideas that you've brought forward that have been
implemented -- or are on the plate to be implemented -- have been talked about in
the legislative process. So thank you for that.
Please do stay engaged because, as I said, we're a large organization and we're going
to keep moving forward. We have a lot of people who depend on us for what we do.
Thank you for your work and I look forward to our next conversation.
Take care.