The committee met at 3:30 p.m.

[Mable Elmore in the chair.]

Deputy Speaker: Good afternoon, Members. I call the meeting to order. In the unavoidable absence of the Speaker, it’s my duty as Deputy Speaker to chair this meeting of the committee, in accordance with section 2(5) of the Legislative Assembly Management Committee Act.

I understand that Minister Tamara Davidson has recently been added to the membership of the committee and that this is her first meeting.

Please accept an official welcome.

Approval of Agenda and Minutes

Deputy Speaker: Our first item of business is approval of the draft agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda?

May I have a motion to approve the agenda as circulated?

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: Next we have review and approval of the draft minutes of the November 12, 2025, meeting of the committee. Has anyone noticed any changes to the minutes of November 12?

May I have a motion to approve the minutes as circulated?

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: Okay. And now we have an update from the Clerk.

Kate, over to you.

Clerk’s Update

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Good afternoon, Members. As we conclude the legislative session and approach the holiday season, I wanted to begin by extending my thanks to all members for the commitment and energy that they have brought to their work this year. For our new members, of course, this marks the close of your first parliamentary calendar year, a significant milestone and one to be proud of.

As always, I’d like to take a moment, as well, to reflect on the past several weeks and express my sincere gratitude to all Legislative Assembly employees who have worked to support proceedings of the House and its committees. The work to support the fall sitting would not be possible without the dedication and professionalism of our staff across the organization. This includes the direct support of teams in our parliamentary operational areas as well as other operational and administrative staff who keep essential services running behind the scenes. My sincere thanks and good wishes to them all.

As we move into the intersessional period and the holiday season, please keep in mind that our staff continue to be here to serve you and your offices, and in particular, the client care teams remain available to assist with any inquiries or support needs through those non-sitting periods, including the holiday season. Their continued availability ensures that you and your staff will receive timely assistance whenever required.

Finally, I’ll also advise members that there will be a planned power outage across the legislative precinct on Saturday, December 13, to allow for some essential electrical system maintenance. We would request that all members and staff avoid using precinct buildings during the outage. Further details will be communicated next week, but I just wanted to provide you with an early awareness of that planned power outage.

In the interests of time, I’ll conclude my remarks there, and I look forward to your consideration of the agenda items forthwith.

Deputy Speaker: Thanks, Kate.

Do we have any discussion or questions on Kate’s report? I’ll give you a moment.

All right. Okay, moving along. Next item we have is caucus funding. This is a recommendation of the subcommittee on administration and operations.

Over to Artour.

Caucus Funding

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Good afternoon, Members. As the acting Chair noted, this matter is a recommendation from the subcommittee on administration and operations. The proposal is essentially to move the caucus funding formula from salary grids used by the B.C. Public Service Agency to the internal compensation framework used by the Legislative Assembly administration.

The current funding formula prescribed in the caucus funding policy originates from the early 1990s and has been amended several times to add layered allocations per member, making the formula clunky.

Under the proposal, the funding formula is streamlined. The benefits calculation is defined, which is not the case in the policy as it stands, and the funding formula itself is tied to internal factors rather than external factors, placing the funding formula within the exclusive purview of your committee. This, by extension, allows us to more accurately prepare budgets and provides better outer-year budget predictability for caucuses.

The proposal before you is to approve the caucus funding formula amendment as presented, effective the ’26-27 fiscal year, and to approve a consequential amendment to policy 7520, caucus funding, effective April 1, 2026.

[3:35 p.m.]

I certainly do not want to suggest a predetermined outcome with respect to that recommendation but will share, for members’ awareness, that the ’26-27 Legislative Assembly budget submission, which you will be considering shortly, has been prepared using this funding formula for caucus budgets.

I also want to acknowledge discussions that took place this fall in the recent report of the Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform, which included a recommendation that your committee review the funding formula for caucuses and independent members. It is the intention of the administration to engage senior caucus staff in the new year to begin structuring a process for how we support that work.

I’m happy to take any questions.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Artour.

Do we have any questions or discussion?

Mike, can you move the motion?

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I move that the caucus funding formula amendment be approved as presented, effective the 2026-2027 fiscal year, and that the consequential amendment to policy 7520, caucus funding, be approved effective April 1, 2026.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: All right. Making good progress.

Next we have the 2026-27 Legislative Assembly Vote 1 budget submission. This is the recommendation from the subcommittee on finance and audit.

Kate?

Vote 1 Budget 2026-27

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

It is our pleasure to present the ’26-27 Vote 1 budget submission for the coming fiscal year. Today’s presentation and submission is a culmination of many hours of work on behalf of my colleagues throughout the administration team. I want to thank them for putting together this comprehensive submission for your consideration today.

As shown on the next slide, the presentation — well, the Chair has mentioned it — does follow the initial consideration of the same submission by the subcommittee on finance and audit on Thursday, November 20, but today’s meeting provides the committee with an opportunity to consider and approve or amend the submission as recommended to you by the subcommittee. We will walk through the details shortly.

This slide provides an overview of the Vote 1 budget. We recognize the importance of using public funds as prudently and as efficiently as possible. At the same time, we recognize important service requirements that continue to grow, and we are striving to be responsive to this growth through our services and supports.

Despite inflationary effects and heightened demands for services across the Legislative Assembly organization, our leadership team has been able to prepare and present a budget today with a modest increase of 1.1 percent for your consideration. As shown on the next slide…. It provides us with an overview of the agenda.

Some of you may have had the pleasure of participating in one of our budget processes previously, perhaps as a part of the 42nd parliament. We thank you in advance for your time this afternoon, and your questions are warmly welcome at any time.

As shown on the agenda slide, we are going to be opening with some background and context for our budget priorities. We will also touch on the recent caucus engagement process and review our operating environment and some of the complexities that factored into our prioritization of strategic and operational initiatives for the year ahead. The presentation will follow the structure of our Vote 1 submission, reviewing, first, operating and then capital expenditures, including strategic initiatives.

The documents that have been circulated include a PowerPoint slide deck and a budget submission report, which provides a summary view of the formal budget submission that we prepare for full transparency. There are a number of tables that provide a detailed breakdown of the operating budget, as well as details with respect to the capital budget. For each of these tables, you will see both historic budgets and actual expenditures.

Table 5, which has also been circulated, illustrates the Vote 1 budget as it would be anticipated to appear within the provincial Estimates document that is tabled by the Minister of Finance in the Legislative Assembly on budget day. As always, these meeting materials are also available publicly on your committee’s external website.

[3:40 p.m.]

As members know, the Legislative Assembly Management Committee is statutorily responsible for the review and approval of the budget and expenditures of the Legislative Assembly. Therefore, as noted, the final component of the budget discussion will be your committee’s discussion and consideration of a recommendation with respect to our submission.

I’ll now pass the presentation over to my colleagues, first Suzie Seo, who will provide an overview and some strategic context.

Seunghee Suzie Seo (Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel): When preparing the budget submission for your consideration, we focused on the operational landscape that we anticipate for the year ahead, while being mindful of external factors such as the fiscal realities that the province is currently facing and which also affect our operations.

We also considered internal factors such as evolving service expectations and internal audit findings that are designed to improve our operations and organizational resilience.

We also grounded ourselves in our strategic outlook, which is articulated in the Legislative Assembly administration’s strategic plan as approved by your committee, the four pillars of which are before you on the slide.

The budget submission that is presented to you today for consideration is designed to enable the organization to advance its strategic priorities.

Next slide, please.

Early in the budget development process in September, we met with caucus chairs and senior caucus staff to listen to and discuss what supports, services and tools are working well to meet the caucuses’ needs and, also, of course, to hear from the caucuses on what may need improvement or further investments in support and resourcing.

We have found caucus engagement opportunities extremely valuable over the past several years when we have conducted them, and this year proved to be the same.

A few themes emerged from our engagement sessions. One of the concerns raised was the effect of inflation on rent in James Bay, the neighbourhood that we are in. This led to an analysis on the capital city living allowance by the administration, and a decision item was presented to the subcommittee on administration and operations for consideration.

Another theme that emerged centred around pressures on caucus staff to deliver their services for their members. This theme resulted in an alternative funding proposal being brought to the subcommittee on administration and operations.

The budget submission before you today reflects the SAO-approved change to the caucus funding formula to reflect the Legislative Assembly administration salary grids instead of those of the BCGEU. And, of course, you just considered that item.

Addressing evolving member safety and security needs while continuing to also balance openness and accessibility continues to be a priority for the Legislative Assembly administration, and more will be said on member security in this presentation.

Opportunities for improvement in financial administrative processes with the consideration of purchasing cards for constituency offices was also identified during the consultations. Additional funding for the administration to facilitate these improvements has been included in our budget submission to you today.

We also heard about some user experience challenges associated with tracking the status and outcomes of expense reimbursement claims. As a result, we have prioritized improvements in the immediate term to address all of these areas for improvement.

I will now turn it to my colleague, Andrew.

Andrew Spence: While the expansion of the Legislative Assembly occurred through the 2024 election, electoral reform process changes continue to be felt as the organization adapts to needs and demands. Our organization has experienced this as a step change through the processes and infrastructure required to support the 43rd parliament.

We saw the number of desks in the chamber expand from 87 to 93 for the session that began in February, but we’ve also seen an increase in the number of constituency offices across the province to support. This increased number of members, combined with the direction to increase the number of workstations funded centrally for constituency staff, results in an increase in the potential number of constituency office staff to support by 60 percent.

Also, recent LAMC decisions have increased the number of caucus office leases in Vancouver that are required to support operations.

[3:45 p.m.]

We’ve also seen an increase in the broadcasting of proceedings. This past spring, we saw the length of broadcast increase by 23 percent over the same April-to-June period in 2024, and 65 percent over the 2023 year. The first half of our fiscal year also witnessed a significant growth in parliamentary committee activity, with over 442 hours broadcast, a significant increase over the past two years.

We also have social and technological factors in the external environment having an effect. Members of the subcommittee on security receive regular updates from our Sergeant-at-Arms on the increase in threats received by members, as part of our member safety program. The same subcommittee also receives periodic cybersecurity updates that highlight the ever-increasing volume of malware and phishing attacks.

We also have seen increases in the democratic process and public participation that I’ve highlighted in the data within our 2024-25 year in review. This has translated into visitors both in person and digitally. We saw over 57,000 visitors to the building, 1.1 million visits to the website and 146 demonstrations over the ’24-25 year.

The structural changes associated with the 43rd parliament combined with the external environment and the growing expectations that are placed upon new members has translated into increased service demands for the administration.

For example, client care fielded more than 10,000 calls in the last year, our IT service desk saw 14,000 tickets, the library delivered more than 3,400 research requests, and our facilities team managed 2,800 maintenance requests — all aspects of our service that we are trying to deliver more efficiently and effectively.

Seunghee Suzie Seo (Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel): In addition to the social and technological factors in our external environment impacting our operations, economic factors also play a big consideration. These economic effects appear in policy-driven increases that are tied to inflation, to constituency office allowances, caucus funding and the capital city living allowance.

Other impacts include how the outcomes of broader public sector bargaining impact cost-of-living adjustments, as our practice has been to maintain consistency with the main BCGEU agreement to ensure competitiveness in the employment marketplace as an employer of choice in British Columbia. Each 1 percent change impacts the budget by approximately $405,000.

We are also experiencing the effects of inflation on service contracts, utilities and material costs associated with our capital projects and expect cost pressures in our IT licensing costs as we plan for the end of contract terms.

To balance the actual and anticipated increases, we have eliminated a number of one-time costs associated with constituency office tenant improvements and Workday implementation costs.

Ray Robitaille: Balancing priorities through strategic alignment. The next three slides provide context of our areas of focus for the coming year, each of which is grounded in our efforts to balance the competing pressures within our operating environment, growing expectations, heightened security concerns and the fiscal climate.

For each area, we start with a summary of the current state before summarizing our planned actions for the coming year. We present operating and capital dollar values where there are incremental costs stemming from the actions we’ve proposed to optimize our strategic alignment of safe and open public institution services and supports and being stewards of the heritage infrastructure.

The first focus area: we need to seek balance in the safe-but-open paradox that democracies face. We want to continue to enable members to perform their role within our democracy without fear or compromise, while ensuring that the public feels welcome and has ease of access to the Legislature. The actions we’ve proposed, included on the right side of slide 13, summarize how we intend to build on what we have already implemented.

Our current state. We continue to mature the member safety program. We continue to launch our transformation program, which is the Sergeant-at-Arms modernization of the service delivery program, including implementation of our hybrid model, which is providing the right resources at the right place at the right time; delivered investments in precinct security technology with state-of-the-art CCTV, cardlock and command platform access to all constituency offices that have the modernized technology. And we’re formalizing our processes, procedures and training to ensure maintenance of high standards.

[3:50 p.m.]

In ’26-27, our key actions will be focused on the security perimeter projects that form a significant portion of our major capital program, which will be discussed later in the presentation. Members will have seen the delivery of the current phase of this project in the form of new gates and associated infrastructure that reduce vehicular risks from Quebec and Kingston streets. Work planned for ’26-27 focuses on the completion of the work along Menzies as well as the members’ parking lot.

We plan to complete the final phase of the constituency office security standardization project by completing installations of the last 30 constituency offices with upgraded technology as well as introduce funding for members to independently implement residential security systems.

We are developing a security master plan this year that will integrate a comprehensive Legislative Assembly of British Columbia safety strategy into an overarching plan that will guide future investments and optimize safety, while maximizing the effective and efficient delivery of services from now into the future.

We are going to implement an event security through a reliable contracted service provider for higher-risk events, bringing us in line with the safety practices being provided at the federal level.

We’re going to invest in our incident response and communication modernization by doing a comprehensive review of our current dispatch function, ensuring that the people, processes and technology will enable us to perform effectively during a crisis.

Daisy Jassar: This slide provides an overview of the activities undertaken and planned to enable members to sufficiently and effectively serve their roles within the democracy.

This fiscal year we have focused on continuing our client service transformation through shifting to a single-window delivery model by consolidating multiple points of contact into a unified client care channel. The client care team has responded to over 10,000 client inquiries in the past year, with a 78 percent first-contact resolution rate and a 4.5-star service rating.

The client service team has also standardized constituency office lease agreements and office design guidelines for all 110 constituency offices, helping to create a more standardized community office environment. They have negotiated 76 lease agreements for existing spaces and 25 lease agreements for new spaces.

We have provided learning and development opportunities to members and staff, including MLA online school and in-person onboarding sessions for new members and their staff, respectful workplace training for members in person and on demand, health and well-being training and monthly client care chats for constituency office and caucus staff.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: A question. In terms of…. You said 76…. Was it…?

Daisy Jassar: The 76 lease agreements?

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Yeah.

Daisy Jassar: And 25 lease agreements for new spaces.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Okay.

Daisy Jassar: The 76 were renewals.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Okay, thanks.

Deputy Speaker: Just following that, there are some outstanding that don’t have spaces yet. How many is that? Eight still?

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Madam Chair, if I may, I’m happy to provide an answer to that question.

As of November 27, we have seven members that are not in a constituency office — this is for their primary constituency office — and three that are not in their secondary constituency office. Of the seven, only one member does not have any prospects within the boundaries of their electoral district, and we believe that we are close to securing a solution just outside of the boundaries of the electoral district.

Daisy Jassar: We have also successfully launched the new enterprise resource planning solution, Workday, implementing HR, payroll and finance functions, helping to reduce many organizational risks identified in various audits.

Next fiscal, investments in this area include: developing a three-year roadmap for smoother services for clients and the administration, including initiatives to bring all administration service providers into a one-service management tool to create efficiencies and reduce duplication of work through improved process management and to consolidate disparate client resources, such as the client care portal, the Dome and the members’ guide, into a client-centred and easy-to-use portal; establishing a pilot for purchase cards for CO offices; ongoing user-experience refinements associated with expense management processes within the new Workday tool; expanded health care spending account for members and staff; preparing for hosting parliamentary conferences; creation of office space in Metro Vancouver for two caucuses; prioritization of a project to modernize the petition process; and CO office technology standardization within the existing budget.

[3:55 p.m.]

Andrew Spence: The final area focuses on the physical infrastructure that surrounds us. As outlined in the long-term legislative precinct plan vision and guiding principles, we strive to create welcoming and functional buildings and spaces that enable the operational continuity of the Legislative Assembly.

This year our team is in the process of developing an engagement plan for the various stakeholder groups with interests in the legislative precinct and will be consulting with governance on this approach prior to finalization. In 2026-27, we plan on conducting this engagement.

In October, the Legislative Assembly Management Committee approved the decommissioning plan to vacate staff out of the drill hall portion of the Armouries building by the summer of 2027 and recognized the need to include new funds to acquire additional workspaces for Legislative Assembly through leased space near the legislative precinct.

In conjunction with this off-site lease strategy, an initial phase of space modernization will be complete in the coming months, expanding the workspace capacity in the northern half of the bunker top floor.

Building off this momentum, work will continue on the bottom floor, leveraging capital funding. Necessary asset management projects are also planned next year to continue roof repairs and replace equipment and aspects of the building envelope that are at risk of failure.

Now I welcome Kate to summarize our three-year outlook before we begin a walkthrough of the operating budget.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Thanks, Andrew.

As you have heard, Members, the budget sets a foundation for our ability to advance the Legislative Assembly’s strategic priorities over the course of the current fiscal year, the forthcoming fiscal year, as well as future fiscal years.

As illustrated on this slide, we have provided a summary of some of the elements that are captured for the year ahead within our operating and capital budget for ’26-27. For informational purposes, this future outlook slide also forecasts some of the activities and priorities that we anticipate maintaining momentum on before formally shifting to readiness throughout the two-year outlook as shown on this slide.

The out-years areas of focus will be shaped and be the focus of future budget submissions, but we wanted to give you a sense on this slide of some of the ongoing multi-year initiatives as well as the forecasted activities to support the institution with an eye to the general election of 2028.

That completes the overview the initial context-setting slides for the prioritization of budget investments that will now shift into more detail.

It may be a good point to pause, in the event that there are any questions. If not, I’ll ask my colleague David to proceed with budget assumptions.

Deputy Speaker: Did you have a question, Mike?

Hon. Mike Farnworth: No, it’s fine. It was answered on…. Let’s just say, seven people with no constituency offices a year later is still a bit of a challenge, putting it mildly.

Anyway, I’m ready for David.

Á’a:líya Warbus: Can I have a question?

Deputy Speaker: Yeah, go ahead.

Á’a:líya Warbus: I did notice that there was a bullet around potential, or an unrolling of, security features. Was this to be understood at members’ personal residences, or was this still in relation to RCA offices?

Ray Robitaille: I can answer that question. It’s both. The new offering that we’re looking at is to provide a subscription-based residential alarm service. It would be through a service provider so that members could have an alarm system at their home for peace of mind for themselves, their families and to ensure that they’re safe and secure there. So that is on one.

[4:00 p.m.]

The other is a business offering that we’re going to continue to roll out which is the modernization of the constituency offices and the technological platforms that support them. We are in year 2 of that and will be completed by the end of 2026.

Á’a:líya Warbus: So the subscription-based service…. I guess what I’m wondering is: where is that at? The way it’s presented, is that included?

I think I just missed it somewhere along the way, so if we do get asked by our caucus, I want to be able to give them the most up-to-date information at our next meeting of where the offering is at and who they talk to about it.

Ray Robitaille: Certainly. This would come into effect if it’s past April 1. We are having some discussions about a mid-cycle adjustment that could have us accelerate that, which would allow us to implement early in 2026.

What that would look like is that it’s through the member safety program, as the intake process for it. We would have to do some work going out to RFP to look at having a reliable service provider that would be able to cover the province. That would be the ideal. We may have multiple service providers, so there’s some work on being able to secure a contract for that.

Á’a:líya Warbus: Okay. I was just wanting to clarify that it’s not further along or something that I missed. I look forward to more information coming forward on that.

I think it’s a really great idea with some of the incidents that, you know, have happened in the past year or so with some of our members. If they live alone, then that definitely offers peace of mind there.

Amna Shah: I have two questions surrounding the service and supports plans for 2026 and 2027.

One is that I’m wondering what the petition process modernization is. And the second question: which technologies are being standardized in the constituency offices?

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I can certainly speak to the petitions process modernization. This was a stand-alone proposal that we brought forward to the subcommittee on administration and operations to prioritize that project work in ’26-27.

Currently, our petitions process is an OG process, if you will. It’s original to 1872, when the Legislative Assembly first met after it joined Confederation.

Deputy Speaker: Did you say 1872?

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Yes, I did say 1872.

David Hoadley: That was a good year.

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I wasn’t around, so I don’t know.

It is a very paper-driven and manual process, and many legislatures across the Commonwealth have taken an opportunity to digitize their processes. Because the standing orders currently, as they stand, are very restrictive, we return about 77 percent. Since 2013, we’ve returned 77 percent of petitions to members because they were not conforming to the standing orders.

We’re hoping, because we have the strategic pillar in our strategic plan to strengthen public engagement, that this is a way by which we can promote citizen engagement with the Legislative Assembly to give them a more direct voice into this institution.

Andrew Spence: Then with respect to the constituency office technology standardization, that just includes our making sure all offices have the same standard for the network, for the security, for workstations and all the equipment that is there, just so we have a standard across the board.

Most of that work is done, other than the remaining offices that need to be set up and some of the security work.

Amna Shah: That does include the security systems, as well, then.

Andrew Spence: Yeah.

Amna Shah: Okay, great. Thanks.

Deputy Speaker: Further questions, discussions?

Rob Botterell: I was wondering if you could just provide a brief summary of the plans for the first-floor bunker space modernization. I see that it involves decanting, and the only decanting I’m familiar with is wine. So I was hoping you could provide a little bit of an overview of that work.

David Hoadley: Sure, I can cover the basics of that.

It’s in the first floor, the north quadrant, and it’s really maximizing the space and densifying it.

[4:05 p.m.]

There are a number of repairs that need to be done, but that’s the objective, to densify the north quadrant on the first floor of the bunker.

Rob Botterell: Great. Okay. Thanks.

Deputy Speaker: Anything else? Okay.

Kate, did you want to continue?

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Yeah. I think the next slide will be David’s to review some of the budget assumptions that have been the foundation of the submission.

David Hoadley: Further to the budget priorities noted in the earlier slides, this slide summarizes the details of the assumptions made in the development of the budget submission. Several line items in the budget are adjusted annually at the rate of annual inflation measured by CPI. We have estimated this to be 2.2 percent and will adjust as needed once the official CPI rate is determined.

For the assembly administration staff, we have adjusted wages to reflect a cost-of-living increase of 3 percent this year in parity with the recent BCGEU contract. Other inflationary factors have been reflected at the normal rates within various contracts and services. Additionally, this submission addresses structural issues that have accumulated over the years.

Our key budget principle continues to be to ensure fiscal prudence and accountability while we continue to focus on strategic and capital priorities. As efficiencies are found within operations, resources are continually reallocated to reflect the changing priorities.

Next slide.

Here is a high-level summary of the assembly’s 2026-27 budget submission for both operating and capital. It should be noted that the details of this table will vary just slightly from the detailed tables provided in your meeting materials, as some figures are split out slightly differently for discussion purposes. The overall submission totals are consistent.

As you can see from the top part of the table, which highlights the ’26-27 submission and shows the change from the prior year, overall, the operating budget for ’26-27 is $140.4 million, which is a modest 1.1 percent increase. The capital budget is $12.6 million, which is a 17 percent increase.

The budget submission is structured in a way that highlights the different functional streams within the assembly operations. I will now start to walk through each of the categories over the next few slides.

For caucus operations, that’s the first category in vote 1 of the budget. Caucus operations funding is driven by a formula that determines the amount of funding each caucus receives based on specific factors, such as the number of elected members, party status — government, opposition or third party — and other policy considerations.

This budget category also includes centralized funding for learning opportunities and certain benefits, such as parental leave for caucus employees, as well as an amount allocated to contingency for unforeseen caucus changes.

The caucus operations budget for the upcoming year is $12.4 million, which is an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Quick question. How come the Green Party gets $29,000 less than the OneBC caucus when they’re both the same size?

David Hoadley: Yes, but OneBC was not formed at the beginning of the year, so the budget was prorated for OneBC.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Oh, okay.

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): It’s the office, David.

Rob Botterell: It’s the office in Vancouver.

David Hoadley: Oh, the offices, not the members.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Okay, got it.

David Hoadley: The office budget was prorated.

Artour Sogomonian (Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I think just for clarity, David’s referring to the current fiscal year. But for next fiscal year, it’s the approval for the caucus to have a leased space in Vancouver, and that allocation has been reflected in that.

[4:10 p.m.]

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Yup. Okay.

David Hoadley: Yes. Oh, that’s true. I’ve been looking at the current year as well. Yes. The next year, it’s the office space that distinguishes the difference.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Okay, thanks.

David Hoadley: Thank you for that clarification. That’s an important one. The increase for ’26-27 is due to an additional caucus compared to last year and the change to the caucus funding formula, which SAO approved. The allocation of resources for ’26-27 is based on the per-member formula tied to the salary of LABC salary grid levels instead of the previous BCGEU grid levels.

The ’26-27 caucus operations budget reflects the party compositions as of November 2025. The unallocated budget reflects a small amount for contingencies consistent with prior years.

For constituency operations, this reflects the overall costs of operating constituency offices across the province. This budget covers allowances and centralized costs, including members’ constituency office allowance, in-constituency travel allowance, leasing and tenant improvement costs, constituency assistant benefits and IT costs for constituency operations.

The total budget for this category is $35.5 million for fiscal ’26-27, a decrease of 4 percent. The decrease is due to decreased CO tenant improvement costs. This is slightly offset by the CPI increase estimated at 2.2 percent for the members’ constituency office allowance and the in-constituency travel allowance. It is also offset by the continued work on CO security.

The third section is members’ remuneration. The members’ remuneration category includes compensation, benefits, allowances and the direct costs for the Members of the Legislative Assembly. For the ’26-27 fiscal year, this category has increased by 2 percent to $23.7 million. The primary increase is for what Andrew was outlining recently — residential security. Member salaries, indemnities and benefits are indexed at the estimated annual CPI rate of 2.2 percent.

The members’ travel component includes the capital city living allowance costs of approximately $1.5 million. Members’ travel costs of approximately $3 million are also indexed and adjusted by the 2.2 percent CPI increase. There are other miscellaneous costs, stationary office supplies and a contingency for legal expenses.

Next, I will pass it over to Daisy to talk about the next section of the Vote 1 budget.

Daisy Jassar: Thank you, David.

The next section of our Vote 1 budget is the independent respectful workplace office. The IRWO was created in 2020-21 to support, promote and sustain positive workplace interactions between members, caucus staff, ministerial staff, employees of the Legislative Assembly and other participant groups that come under the respectful workplace policy.

Since April 2023, the IRWO has been operated by Southern Butler Price LLP, a service provider that was selected through a competitive procurement process. We continue to allocate $250,000 to this office.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I will take the next slide.

Parliamentary operations budget category includes four dedicated areas of expenditure: interparliamentary relations, the Office of the Speaker, parliamentary committee operations and parliamentary documents.

[4:15 p.m.]

The key budget impacts that have shaped this increase of $176,000, or a 7 percent increase, in the year ahead relate to different factors with respect to our parliamentary activity, including the resumption of what we would describe as a typical parliamentary schedule for the Legislative Assembly as compared to the schedule that might occur, for example, in a general election year.

We’ve also covered off increased travel and off-site costs for committees, such as when they’re travelling within the province of British Columbia. Meeting venues or travel costs are covered. And then we’ve also included a small contingency in the event that there is a higher than anticipated level of parliamentary committee activity.

I’ll just break it down a little bit more to explain, as well, that the interparliamentary relations budget, in particular, is increased by $236,000 as a result of British Columbia hosting two upcoming parliamentary conferences in the fiscal year. The Speaker is looking forward to hosting Canadian elected officials July 4 through 10 in 2026, and then he is also hosting the presiding officers conference in January of 2027. If you have an interest, please mark those dates, and we will be in touch with further information in due course.

The next slide provides an overview of the budget for the Legislative Assembly administration. This budget is allocated across several subcategories which represent different departments within the administration. The administration budget, of course, also includes some central supports for members, such as technology supports, which are not budgeted in caucus or constituency operations. So there are some central costs carried for the entire organization here.

The overall budget category makes up approximately 39 percent of the Vote 1 expenditures. Our administration employees, of course, many of whom are represented here with respect to their work to support members, caucuses and constituency offices in a variety of different roles…. The five subgroups that you’ll see that we have grouped…. Our teams within include client and support services, information services, parliamentary support services, precinct services and security and sessional services.

As with most organizations, of course, the primary cost driver for the administration budget is salary, wages. As shown on this slide, the cost-of-living increase for the administration staff that has been calculated is 3 percent. This aligns, of course, with the recent public sector collective agreement. Other cost pressures within the administration are increasing costs of support contracts, particularly software licensing, maintenance support and security-related expenditures.

The administration budget is $55 million for the upcoming year, with an increase of 0.3 percent. That budget allocation will enable us to continue initiatives with respect to technology supports and services aimed at supporting members and modernizing the workplace and precinct infrastructure that my colleagues touched upon earlier.

David, over to you.

David Hoadley: The Legislative Assembly administration also has the small line items called recoveries. The revenue line includes the gross sales, before expenses, from the parliamentary dining room, the gift shop and other miscellaneous revenue. Recoveries are expected to increase for ’26-27 by 5 percent.

The final category — next slide — in the budget submission is general centralized accounting. This grouping includes amortization and other expenses offsets that reflect the overall administration operations and accounting transactions. The two largest items in this category are amortization and asset retirement obligations.

[4:20 p.m.]

General centralized accounting expenses increased $1.14 million in ’26-27, primarily as a result of $1.3 million, which is a new item, for the off-precinct lease cost, which we will discuss in greater detail later on in the presentation; $237,000 for an expanded increase in the health care spending account for both members and staff, as the increased individual amount has increased from $500 to $750, offset by savings in estimated amortization and asset retirement obligations costs.

Over to Kate.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Great. Thank you, David.

Deputy Speaker: I have a quick question. With respect to recoveries, the budget allocation, the main contributor to the budget, the Parliamentary Dining Room sales, $1 million…. Now, is that minus expenses? Or how is that calculated?

David Hoadley: I figured that might be a question.

That is the gross revenues. So that’s before cost of goods sold. It’s also before operating expenses, which is primarily salaries and benefits. So if you take into account cost of goods sold before operating expenses, then what’s called the gross margin, revenues less cost of goods sold, is $640,000 for the dining room and a negative amount of $5,000 for the gift shop.

And then if you take into account operating expenses, the dining room is operating at a loss of approximately $700,000 per year, and the gift shop is operating at a loss of approximately $180,000 per year.

Garry Begg: Can you repeat — for the dining room?

David Hoadley: The dining room, yes, is operating at a loss of $700,000. So it starts off with revenues of $1.1 million, cost of goods sold of $446,000 and operating expenses of about $1.3 million, which is a $700,000 loss.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I’ll just clarify, if I might. I believe, for the Parliamentary Gift Shop, some of the costs related to the distribution of educational materials, which are provided to members and distributed throughout the assembly at no cost, are part of that calculation.

For both, as David mentioned, of course, workforce costs are an important component of the services that we provide here. But the gross margin, I think, of the dining room…. You were saying it was about $640,000.

David Hoadley: Yes.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): So after the cost of goods purchased for the sale and provision of services, $640,000. But there are, of course, other overhead expenditures related to workforce, etc. Utilities, that kind of thing.

David Hoadley: Okay. Thank you.

Deputy Speaker: Continue.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I’ll just mention at this point that that completes the presentation with respect to operating expenses for the forthcoming fiscal year. The next slide here shifts the focus of the presentation to our capital budget.

At the earlier meeting of the subcommittee on finance and audit, we provided a detailed overview of specific individual capital projects. In order to protect our commercial interests, of course, with forthcoming procurement opportunities, today’s presentation on capital investments is presented at a somewhat higher level.

However, if members have any questions as we move through the next part of the presentation relating to any of the financial aspects of any individual capital projects, we’d be pleased to go in camera with you to discuss and to respond to your questions.

As shown on the next slide, I’ll just note that the Vote 1 capital budget is approximately $12.6 million, a 17 percent increase over the current year’s capital budget. Those investments relate to our ability to mitigate key risks related to infrastructure, safety and security and to protect and renew our physical and digital infrastructure.

So with that, I’ll ask David now to present the detailed components of the capital budget.

David Hoadley: Thank you.

The next few slides will walk you through the various capital asset categories and provide an overview of some of the projects. We are happy to discuss the project details at this meeting. As Kate alluded to, if you have detailed questions, we can go in camera.

[4:25 p.m.]

This slide shows the overall capital investment over the past five years. The yellow part of the bar reflects the election-specific investments in ’24-25.

The Legislative Assembly has invested resources in creating a strong project and planning environment. We have been able to complete more projects as planned and ensure that the assets are being replaced and renovated as needed. Multi-year planning is underway so that the assembly can take on some larger initiatives in the coming years.

As the Legislative Assembly works through each year of its strategic plan, critical investments in infrastructure, safety and security are identified and resourced through the budget submission process. These decisions are based on risk tolerance and the available resources to initiate or complete the work.

Over the past few years, the assembly has begun planning for the future of the precinct and starting to create the vision of how the Parliament Buildings, precinct grounds and physical and digital infrastructure can be modernized to meet the changing needs of the members.

This slide breaks the total capital into the program categories showing the change year over year. The light green column also adds the operating costs associated with the projects in these categories. Overall, there is $12.6 million in the capital budget for next year. The most significant of the categories is the major capital infrastructure program at $8.5 million, which is 64 percent of the total.

I now pass it over to Kate to discuss the off-precinct lease opportunity.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Thank you so much, David.

As shown on this slide, and as we referenced earlier, we have identified a pending opportunity to secure some off-precinct space to support the committee’s decision to decommission the Armouries, support precinct space management and also support and enable broader long-term planning. We are still in early stages of exploring the details of the lease opportunity, but we have included within the budget an estimate based on the best information that is known to us at this time.

Once the details of that leasing opportunity have been finalized, it is our intention to return to the subcommittee on finance and audit and to this committee before entering into any extensive, multi-year contractual obligation.

But we do anticipate this space will be adjacent to the precinct, and unlike other options that have been considered to date, we expect the pending opportunity to provide us with sufficient space to consolidate staff into a single office-space area, a move that would support workforce efficiency and productivity and potentially simplify any required tenant improvements, such as IT requirements.

We are in the early negotiations now with the Ministry of Citizens’ Services on the details of the lease. The proposal within the budget provides for new space for up to 115 workstations or other uses at a maximum cost in 2026-’27 of $1.3 million in operating and $700,000 in one-time capital costs.

As negotiations progress, and as more details become available, these numbers could decrease. They are conservative. We are asking for the numbers to be built into the budget but that approval to enter into the lease be conditional on us returning to the committee in due course.

If there are no questions on that opportunity, I’ll ask David now to give us an overview of the major capital infrastructure program.

[4:30 p.m.]

David Hoadley: The Parliament Buildings, Armouries building and other structures within the legislative precinct are long overdue for restoration, renovation or, in some cases, replacement. Critical building systems within these structures, such as roof systems, plumbing, heating, electrical and mechanical, etc.… Many of them are reaching end of life and are at critical risk of failure.

The capital infrastructure investment program is focused on life-cycle extension of our physical infrastructure as well as investments in continual modernization of our buildings and physical assets. Safety and security of members, staff and visitors is always prioritized.

Many of the investments in technology and security equipment have been established on an evergreen model, and scheduled replacements are occurring as planned. This approach helps to flatten the highs and lows of capital spending and helps to provide flexibility to address critical repairs and replacements as needed.

The capital budget is focused on addressing the associated risks; safety and security breaches; failure of aging, end-of-life infrastructure; and lack of space to support institutional needs. The two major projects that are within this category are the security perimeter hardening and major asset management.

Security perimeter hardening is a multiphase, multi-year project. The focus in ’26-27 is on the area around Menzies Street and upgrades to the members’ parking lot. Major asset management work involves initiating the necessary repair work that is aligned to condition assessments and known end-of-serviceable-life equipment.

The key focus for the upcoming year is on critical, immediate repair work on the main Parliament Building roof, which will continue to mitigate risks of water ingress.

I now pass the presentation over to Andrew.

Andrew Spence: An overview of the scope and budget for our IT infrastructure program is presented on slide 31.

Funding levels have been reduced by 28 percent over the current year. As I’m happy to report, we are reaching a steady state, following the elimination of much of the technical debt that we’ve been focused on addressing since 2022.

Work remains underway to both reduce the business interruption risk and increase the organization’s capacity to use new tools to enhance business operations. Specifically, we are supporting the delivery of strategic initiatives, discussed earlier, to complete the final phase of the CO security standardization project, as well as funding the prioritization of the petition process modernization.

We continue to work towards optimizing the life-cycle management of end-user equipment and infrastructure. Overall, our infrastructure life-cycle budget continues to drop, with less work expected here at the precinct. While it’s not shown on the slide, we expect a similar drop in IT capital for the 2027-28 year, before making assumptions on a larger budget ask to support the election refresh in October of 2028.

Through the IT infrastructure program in place since 2022, we’ve been able to make significant progress in reducing technical debt in the form of end-of-life equipment, both at the precinct and at constituency offices around the province. We’ve included funding for ongoing optimization of our security technology at the precinct and for the evergreening of equipment that enables the Hansard broadcast to continue.

Finally, we’ve included modest capital budgets to mitigate some operational risks associated with some of our archival records and our integrated library system.

David will now conclude our final slides on the capital budget.

David Hoadley: Much of the minor capital budget relates to life-cycle replacements. This category includes costs that don’t fit into the major infrastructure programs, such as ongoing fire alarm upgrades, office furniture and equipment, evergreening, etc. Overall, the budget for minor capital has decreased.

This concludes our summary of the capital budget request for ’26-27. My colleagues and I are now happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Deputy Speaker: I’ll open it up for discussion and questions.

[4:35 p.m.]

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Just on the ongoing maintenance of the building, you said the major one is the roof?

David Hoadley: Yes.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: Are there any particular areas of the building where just a standard replacement needs to be done, or is it specific key areas where there are problems identified? And part of that is, are there issues in terms of, like, you have to use specific materials to replace…? I guess it is slate, isn’t it?

David Hoadley: A lot of it is slate. The building actually contains multiple different surfaces, but a large part of it is slate. There’s copper on parts too.

We are assessing it, definitely, on which is the highest risk first for the roof, and doing those areas first.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): If I might, my understanding is that it could be up to a three- or four-year project, and so it would be done sequentially.

David Hoadley: Yes.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): I understand that the repairs for next year may focus over the library and the west side of the building.

David Hoadley: That’s true.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): And there is a combination, as David said, of many different roofing materials. So I think it’s to also replace failing roofing structures and membrane to ensure that the foundational components are in place, as well as the actual roofing materials themselves.

A detailed assessment has been done, and it will guide us through those phased improvements over the next few years.

David Hoadley: Thanks for that clarification.

Deputy Speaker: Anything further?

May I have the first motion outlined in the presentation deck on page 34? Would somebody like to move that?

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I move that the 2026-27 Vote 1 Legislative Assembly budget submission be approved by the Legislative Assembly Management Committee as presented.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: And we have the second motion.

Rob Botterell: I’ll move that the Chair transmit the estimates of expenditures for fiscal year 2026-27 for the Legislative Assembly for Vote 1, as presented to the Minister of Finance on behalf of the committee.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: Okay, and now we’re moving to personnel matters. We’ll be going in camera.

Kate Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly): Just before we do, may I just express our sincere collective appreciation to the members of the committee for their support of the budget submission. We look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress throughout the year ahead.

Thank you so very much.

Deputy Speaker: I would like to say thank you for the comprehensive report and the great work you’re doing. Appreciate it.

Okay, item 6 now, personnel matters.

Personnel Matters

Deputy Speaker: May I have a motion to proceeding in camera to consider personnel?

Motion approved.

The committee continued in camera from 4:38 p.m. to 4:44 p.m.

[Mable Elmore in the chair.]

Deputy Speaker: We are back in public session.

Agenda item 7, any other business. Do we have any other business?

Okay. If not, I’d obtain a motion to adjourn.

Motion approved.

The committee adjourned at 4:44 p.m.