Job Overview

This non-partisan position works directly with legislators and is involved in the legislative process by researching, analyzing, summarizing, and presenting a variety of data and other information. The analyst works for the Legislative Fiscal Division of the Legislative Branch and reports to one of two managers working for the division’s director, the Legislative Fiscal Analyst.

Responsibilities

An analyst can expect to:

• Provide in-depth and data-driven fiscal analysis to support the legislative process.
• Work directly with legislators on identifying policy issues and ways to measure fiscal impacts.
• Perform original research at the behest of legislative committees.
• Objectively address potential fiscal implications of legislative proposals.
• Provide verbal and written reports to the legislature.
• The work cycle in the Legislative Fiscal Division changes throughout the two-year legislative calendar. During the legislative session, work is intense with analysts staffing legislative committees and subcommittees, responding quickly to legislator requests for detailed analysis, and monitoring appropriation legislation.
• In the off-season analysts staff interim committees, conduct detailed original research, report on implementation of legislation from the previous session, and contribute in the development of data models used to assess the state’s long-term fiscal outlook.
• Analysts can expect to research and interpret results on a wide variety of topics. Like the legislative body itself, legislative priorities continually change.
• Analysts respond by acquiring new knowledge in various topics to provide the most current and accurate information.

Qualifications

Competencies

An analyst must have the ability to:

• Conduct independent analysis and research.
• Prioritize and manage multiple projects at any one time.
• Interpret and analyze legislative proposals and emerging fiscal issues to provide a better understanding of current and future implications to Montana’s budget.
• Analyze revenue and expenditure information, state and federal statutes, and financial materials to identify issues for legislative consideration including creation of options to resolve those issues.
• Understand, query, and analyze data from statewide databases and financial management systems.
• Develop and maintain data models to analyze historical fiscal trends and project long-term fiscal impacts.
• Relay complex information, verbally and in writing, to diverse audiences in a manner that can be clearly understood.

Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree and four years of relevant work experience.
• Or Master’s degree and two years of relevant work, research, or teaching experience.

Preferred backgrounds include: 

• MBA or MPA, accounting, statistics, economics, data analytics, or other financial and math related fields, with a proven ability to clearly communicate those same concepts.
• Experience presenting to or teaching others in either formal or informal settings.