H-1542              _______________________________________________

                                    HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 4411

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Ebersole, Ballard, Locke, Silver, Holland, Hine and Bowman

Read first time 4/10/89 and referred to Committee on Rules.

WHEREAS, The legislative budget process is one of the most important processes within the state government since it determines the allocation of state revenues; and

          WHEREAS, The legislative budget process produces the ultimate policy document for the state, the biennial state budget; and

          WHEREAS, The limited duration of legislative sessions makes it difficult to maintain constant oversight over the executive branch's expenditure and fiscal policy; and

          WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature now has a decentralized fiscal organization with both the House of Representatives and Senate having separate fiscal committees, and with separate statutory joint bipartisan committees serving the legislature on fiscal issues:  The Legislative Accountability and Evaluation Committee (LEAP) provides a state budget data base and data analysis capability; the Legislative Budget Committee (LBC) provides program review; and the Legislative Transportation Committee (LTC) provides policy and budget analysis on transportation issues; and

          WHEREAS, Nonpartisan objective analysis of agency budgets and programs is essential to the work of the legislature; and

          WHEREAS, The functions of all legislative fiscal organizations should be reviewed to identify overlapping responsibilities and to strengthen the effectiveness of the legislature's budget analysis and oversight responsibilities;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the House of Representatives of the state of Washington, the Senate concurring, That a joint select committee on legislative fiscal organization be established to review the current fiscal committees and develop recommendations regarding the structure and operations of the organization; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the committee consist of eight members, four members each selected by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with no more than two from the same party from each house; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the committee report its findings and recommendations to the legislature at the regular session held in 1990.