Brief Description: Eliminating selected detail from the governor's budget submittal.

Sponsors: Representative Sommers; by request of Office of Financial Management.

Hearing Date: 2/3/04

Staff: Kristen Fraser (786-7148).

Background:

The Budget & Accounting Act (B&AA) establishes various requirements for the budget documents and information that the Governor must submit to the Legislature before each regular session. The required documents and information include the Governor's budget message, which explains the budget and outlines proposed fiscal policies for the period covered by the budget; the budget bill; estimated revenues classified by fund and source for the past, current, and next fiscal period; undesignated fund balance or deficit, by fund; and a tablulation of expenditures by fund, function, activity, and agency.

In 2002, the requirement that proposed expenditures be classified at the activity level was suspended for documents to be submitted for the 2003-05 fiscal biennium. As a result of the 2002 change, the Governor's budget documents for the 2003-05 biennial and the 2004 supplemental budgets did not include activity-level expenditure tabulation. "Activity" is not defined in law, but in practice the documents have included program-level detail.

Summary of Bill:

The requirements for the Governor's budget documents are revised. Expenditures no longer need to be classified at the activity level.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.