Processes to Determine State Budget Requests

      Joint Budget Committee. The bill requires a state agency, defined as any department, commission, council, board, bureau, committee, institution of higher education, agency, or other governmental unit of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of state government that receives an appropriation or is otherwise included in the annual general appropriation act, to submit a base budget for the upcoming state fiscal year to the joint budget committee and the office of state planning and budgeting (office) on or before September 1 of each year, beginning in 2026. A base budget is defined as the total amount appropriated in the annual general appropriation act and other legislation enacted in the prior state fiscal year plus:

• Out-year costs or savings from legislation adopted in prior years that were not included in the appropriations for the preceding state fiscal year; and
• Budget adjustments from prior years that were not included in the appropriations for the preceding state fiscal year.

A state agency is required to submit its base budget using a format agreed upon by state agencies and the office, in coordination with joint budget committee staff.

     The bill also requires the director of the office, in collaboration with the executive director of the department of personnel, to provide information related to the office's calculations for common policies, as annually submitted in the governor's November 1 budget request, to the departments, institutions, and agencies of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of state government as soon as practicable prior to the submission of the November 1 budget request.


(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)