AB 168

This bill makes all of the following changes relating to consideration of biennial

budget bills:

State agency budget requests

Currently, state agencies in every even-numbered year must submit certain

program and financial information to the Department of Administration and the

Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) that is used by the governor in preparing the

executive budget bill. Among the required information that state agencies must

submit is proposed legislation to implement programmatic and financial plans.

This bill prohibits state agencies from submitting a proposal for an earmark or

a nonfiscal policy item. Under the bill, an "earmark" includes a provision that

authorizes or requires the payment of state moneys to a specific beneficiary or

beneficiaries in a manner not determined by laws of general applicability for the

selection of the beneficiary or beneficiaries. Similarly, a nonfiscal policy item is a

provision that does not appropriate money, provide for revenue, or relate to taxation.

Biennial state agency budget modification report

Currently, the secretary of administration must prepare a biennial budget

report for distribution to the legislature on the same day that the governor delivers

his budget message to the legislature. The report contains a variety of information

relating to the state's finances, expenditures, and revenues. This bill requires the

secretary of administration to also prepare a biennial state agency budget

modification report that includes the following information: a statement identifying

each proposal in the executive budget bill that was requested by a state agency, but

that was altered by the governor; a statement identifying each proposal in the

executive budget bill that was not requested by a state agency; and a statement

specifying the costs of each of these two proposals, the policy reasons for including

each proposal in the executive budget bill, and the intended beneficiary or

beneficiaries of each proposal.

Earmark transparency report

The bill requires LFB to prepare an earmark transparency report on each

biennial budget bill and on each amendment thereto. The report must contain all

of the following: a list of all earmarks and nonfiscal policy items; the cost of each

earmark and nonfiscal policy item; and the beneficiary of each earmark and nonfiscal

policy item. If the beneficiary is an individual, LFB must identify the assembly and

senate district in which the beneficiary resides. If the beneficiary is an entity, LFB

must identify the assembly and senate district in which the beneficiary is located,

incorporated, or organized. With respect to an amendment to a biennial budget bill,

LFB must identify the representative to the assembly or senator who proposed the

earmark or nonfiscal policy item.

Joint Committee on Finance consideration of biennial budget bill

The bill provides that the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) may not vote to