The Office of Fiscal Analysis is a nonpartisan professional office of the Connecticut General Assembly. Its primary function is to provide technical support to the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, as well as the other committees and members of the legislature. Specifically, OFA is statutorily charged with the following, pursuant to CGS 2-71c and CGS 2-36b:
(1) Reviewing department and program operating budget requests;
(2) analyzing and helping to establish priorities with regard to capital programs;
(3) checking executive revenue estimates for accuracy;
(4) recommending potential untapped sources of revenue;
(5) assisting in legislative hearings and helping to schedule and prepare the agenda of such hearings;
(6) assisting in the development of means by which budgeted programs can be periodically reviewed;
(7) preparing short analyses of the costs and long-range projections of executive programs and proposed agency regulations;
(8) keeping track of federal aid programs to make sure that Connecticut is taking full advantage of opportunities for assistance;
(9) reviewing, on a continuous basis, departmental budgets and programs;
(10) analyzing and preparing critiques of the Governor's proposed budget;
(11) studying, in depth, selected executive programs during the interim;
(12) performing such other services in the field of finance as may be requested by the Joint Committee on Legislative Management;
(13) preparing the fiscal notes, required under section 2-24, upon favorably reported bills which require expenditure of state or municipal funds or affect state or municipal revenue;
(14) preparing at the end of each fiscal year a compilation of all fiscal notes on legislation and agency regulations taking effect in the next fiscal year, including the total costs, savings and revenue effects estimated in such notes; and
(15) The Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) is statutorily required every November to produce the Fiscal Accountability Report (FAR). The FAR must explain: (1) the level of spending changes from current year spending allowed by consensus revenue estimates, (2) any changes to current year spending necessary because of “fixed cost drivers,” and (3) the total change to current year spending required to accommodate fixed cost drivers without exceeding current revenue estimates. For this report, fixed cost drivers include debt service, pension contributions, retiree health care, entitlement programs, and federal mandates.
