State Budget Process: Overview and Issues

1
State Budget Process Overview and Issues

• Presenters
• Mark Beckley, Deputy Director, State DCSS

2
Key Budget Dates

• State fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30.
• January 10 Governor proposes budget for the
  upcoming fiscal year.
• May 14 Governor revises the expenditure and
  revenue assumptions of the proposed budget. This
  is known as the May Revision.
• June 15 Legislature submits final budget bill to
  the Governor.
• July 1 Governor signs or vetoes the budget bill.
  Governor may also veto portions of the budget
  bill.
• Once the budget bill is signed by the Governor,
  the bill becomes law. This is known as the
  Enacted Budget.

3
Key Department Budget Timeframes

• Fall Process
• June-September Submit State Operations Budget
  Change Proposals and Local Assistance expenditure
  and revenue changes to Control agencies (OCIO,
  DOF, Agency) for review.
• October-December Department provides additional
  information to control agencies. Control
  agencies and the Governors Office approve or
  deny the inclusion of budget changes into the
  Governors Budget.

4
Key Department Budget Timeframes (cont.)

• Spring Process
• January-February Submit Spring State Operations
  Budget Proposals to control agencies for review.
• March Provide additional information to control
  agencies on changes. Control agencies and
  Governors Office approve or deny submitting
  changes to the Legislature for consideration.
• April 1 State Operations changes submitted to
  the Legislature in the form of a Spring Finance
  Letter.
• March-April Submit revised Local Assistance
  expenditure and revenue changes to control
  agencies for review.
• May 14 Local Assistance changes approved by
  control agencies and the Governors Office
  submitted in a May Revision Letter to the
  Legislature.

5
Exceptions to Standard Budget Process

• Constitutional dates for submitting a budget bill
  and enacting a budget are rarely met.
• Different budget process used for 2009-10.
  Revised 2008-09 and 2009-10 budget enacted in
  February 2009. Revised 2009-10 budget enacted in
  July.
• Governor has the ability to decrease expenditures
  and positions of departments under his authority
  mid-year via an Executive Order.

6
Budget Issues

• State budget timeframes do no always align with
  county budget timeframes. This can cause
  uncertainty in terms of the proposed budget to
  submit to your auditor/controller and boards of
  supervisors.
• Delayed and uncertain State budgets can make
  local spending and hiring decisions difficult.
• Department cannot guarantee at any point in the
  budget process that certain expenditure levels or
  expenditure proposals will be included in the
  enacted budget.
• State-level mid-year reductions may reduce the
  support that the department is able to provide to
  the local level.

7
Items to Consider During These Budget Times

• Keep focus on Early Intervention efforts.
  Increased collections result in increased federal
  incentive dollars for the program and increased
  revenue for the county.
• If your LCSA is unable to spend its full
  allocation due to county-wide furloughs, consider
  reinvesting into tools to improve efficiency or
  pre-pay next year expenses (consult with the DCSS
  LCSA Budget Section for eligible expenses to
  pre-pay).