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The Fiscal Note Process in State Legislatures

Created by Violet Baffour
North Carolina General Assembly
Fiscal Research Division Posted August 1999

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Summary
• Fiscal Notes Survey
• Results:
• Part 1: Staff
• Part 2: Process for Prepararation of Fiscal Note
• Part 3: Fiscal Notes Requirements
• Resource Persons Database
• Acknowledgements

The survey aims at examining the Fiscal Note process in State Legislatures. To this end, 48 State Legislative Fiscal Offices were contacted for information. Of the 48 states, 40 responded.

The survey was divided into 3 parts focusing on: (i) Fiscal Staff (i.e. How State Fiscal Offices are organized and staffed for the preparation of Fiscal Notes), (ii) Process for Preparing Fiscal Notes, and (iii) Fiscal Note Requirements.

Summary

Part 1- Staff (40 Respondents)

• 33 of the 40 responding States provide a training process in Fiscal Notes preparation for new staff.
• 3 of the 40 respondent States (i.e. GA, MS, SD) do not provide any formal training for new staff.
• 4 of the 40 respondent states (i.e. AL, CT, ND and WV) did not provide information pertaining to training fiscal staff.
• 34 of the 40 respondent States have Legislative Fiscal offices responsible for preparing fiscal notes.
• 6 of the 40 respondent States (i.e. AK, KS, MN, MT, ND, and WV) assign Fiscal Note requests to the applicable executive agencies.
• Of the 6, 1(i.e. MT) is the Governor's Budget Office.
• 29 of the 40 respondent States have full- time personnel only.
• 7 of the 40 respondent States have session- only staff (in addition to full- time personnel).
• Information could not be determined in 4 States (i.e. AL, CT, ND, WV).
• Of the 40 respondent States, Florida has the largest staff (200 professional staff and 20 interns).
• Of the 40 respondent States, Texas has the second largest staff (70 full- time professional staff and 30 administrative/ computer staff).

Part 2-Process for Preparing Fiscal notes (37 Respondents)

• Of the 37 respondent States, 27 have a centralized process (i.e. a formal hierarchical assignment, review and approval structure) in how fiscal notes are prepared and processed.
• Of the 37 respondent States, 5 have a decentralized process in how fiscal notes are prepared and processed (i.e. an informal assignment, review, and approval structure).
• The nature of the fiscal note process could not be determined from the responses provided by Colorado, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New Jersey and West Virginia.
• Of the 37 respondent States, 15 have a formal, structured prioritization process.
• 19 of the 37 respondent States operate on a "first come, first served" basis in processing fiscal note requests.
• Nature of the Process could not be determined in Arizona.

Part 3- Fiscal Note Requirements (38 Respondents)

• Of the 38 respondent States, 28 do not require fiscal notes on all bills.
• Of the 38 respondent States, 10 require fiscal notes on all bills.
• In 14 of the 38 respondent States, fiscal notes accompany bills in the Bill Jacket upon introduction in the Chamber.
• In 19 of the 38 respondent States, fiscal notes do not accompany bills in the Bill Jacket upon introduction in the Chamber.
• 5 of the 38 respondent States (i.e. AR, CT, IL, ME, and WV) did not provide information specifying whether fiscal notes accompanied bills in bill jackets upon introduction in the Chamber.

Part 1- Fiscal Staff

1. Which Agency is responsible for preparing fiscal notes?
2. How many Full- time and/ or Session- only employees staff this Agency?
3. What kind of training in preparing fiscal notes, if any, does the Agency offer employees?
4. What is the effect of preparing Fiscal notes on the agency's workload?

Part 2- Process for Preparation of Fiscal Notes

5. Describe the Agency's process for preparing fiscal notes.
6. Describe the Agency's process for prioritizing fiscal note requests.
7. Describe the Agency's process for developing assumptions and range estimates about a bill's fiscal impact.
1. Are fiscal note revision requests made to the agency?
2. What is the process for requesting fiscal note revisions?
3. What are the most frequent reasons for revision requests?

Part 3- Fiscal Note Requirements

8. What types of legislation require Fiscal Notes?
9. Estimate the average number of fiscal notes prepared by the Agency in each legislative session.
10. Do fiscal notes accompany bills in the Bill Jacket upon introduction in the Chamber?

Results

• Part 1- Staff
• Part 2- Process for Preparation of Fiscal Notes
• Part 3- Fiscal Note Requirements

Resource Person Contact Information

Acknowledgements

My deepest thanks and appreciation to Tom L. Covington (Director, North Carolina General Assembly Fiscal Research Division), J. Travis Hockaday, the entire North Carolina General Assembly Fiscal Research Division staff, Kevin Blanchette (Director, Massachusetts Legislative Services Bureau), Stephen Zerdelian (MA, Legislative Services Bureau), Arturo Pérez (National Conference of State Legislatures) and the individuals and staff from the various states who took time off their busy schedules to respond to the survey.

Prepared by Violet Baffour
North Carolina General Assembly
Fiscal Research Division
Suite 619 LOB
Raleigh, NC 27603
Phone: 919-733-4910
Fax: 919-715-3589

Reviewed December 2003
Email statebudget-info@ncsl.org for more information.
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