Budget Procedures

Budget procedures, the way states produce their budgets, vary in America's state legislatures. States use different types of budgets, including line-item, program-based, performance-based, and modified zero-based. Some budget annually while others budget on a biennial basis. Most state fiscal years end on June 30, although four states follow a different schedule. Legislative Budget Procedures in the 50 States and Territories outlines these varying approaches.

Other Information on Budget Procedures

Balanced Budgets

• State Strategies to Manage Budget Shortfalls (Foundation Fiscal Partners, 1996)
• State Balanced Budget Requirements: Provision and Practice (2004)
• The Balanced Budget Amendment: The Road to Ratification (February 1997)
• Fundamentals of Sound State Budgeting Practice (1995)

Budget Bills

• Constitutional Provisions Requiring a House of Origin for Revenue Bills (1999)
• Legisbrief: Supermajority Votes Required to Pass the Budget (Nov. 1998)

Budget Cycles

• Benefits and Problems Associated with Changing Budget Cycles (December 2002)
• Annual and Biennial Budgeting (Revised October 2004)

Federal Funds

• NCSL surveyed the states to report the details of how legislatures control federal funds (September 2004).

Fiscal Notes

• The Fiscal Note Process in State Legislatures (Violet Baffour, North Carolina General Assembly, Fiscal Research Division, 1999)

Late Budgets

• Legisbrief: Late Budgets in pdf and in html (August 2004)
• Provisions and Procedures to Finance Agency Operations If the Appropriations Act Is not Passed by the Beginning of the Fiscal Year, 1998

Legislative Budget Procedures

• Legislative Budget Procedures: A Guide to Appropriations and Budget Processes in the States, Commonwealths and Territories (partially updated; originally published 1998)
• Legislative Authority Over the Enacted Budget (1992)
• Supermajority Requirements

Operating Budgets

• Separation of powers--a fundamental principle of American government--mandates, among other requirements, that each branch of government develop and maintain its own operating budget. State legislatures are diverse in the ways they develop, manage and oversee their operating budgets.

Performance-Based Budgeting

• Asking Key Questions: How to Review Program Results
• State legislators generally agree that their constituents often feel disconnected from government. Once they form a connection, however, citizens express a greater appreciation of the complexities of the work performed by legislators and other state employees. Several state lawmakers share their experiences here and offer some fresh ideas for strengthening the citizen connection.  (Judy Zelio, 2005)
• Legislative Use of Performance Information, a Legisbrief (October 2005).
• Legislating for Results
  Exactly what am I getting for the money I'm paying? That's a question that is perpetually on the minds of taxpayers. Legislating for Results tells how to use performance information to determine the solid achievements of government programs for the money spent on them. This timely and comprehensive volume gives policymakers the tools to ask the right questions; encourage good management; gather vital information; identify areas for budget reductions or increases; link appropriations to actual services; improve oversight; enhance planning; and clearly show what works and what does not. Accompanied by a CD-Rom of hearing excerpts, this is a must-have book for all decision makers and staff. (Judy Zelio, 2004)
• Lessons Learned: What Experience Teaches about Performance-Based Budgeting and Reporting (August 2000)
• Performance information, especially outcome information (an excerpt from Legislating for Results) provides information about the results the state is obtaining for the activities it undertakes and for the funds it spends. The information provides a major accountability tool. Perhaps even more important, it provides basic information to help improve what the state is doing for its citizens. (2004)

Rainy Day Funds

• States Broaden the Scope of Rainy Day Funds, 1997.

Supermajority Requirements

• Vote Required to Pass the Budget (Legislative Budget Procedures: Enactment of the Budget, 1998)
• Supermajority Vote Requirements to Pass the Budget, a Legisbrief (1998).
• (See also information on tax-related supermajority requirements.)

Featured Links

• Balanced Budgets
• Budget Bills
• Bonds
• Budget Cycles
• Federal Funds
• Fiscal Notes
• Late Budgets
• Legislative Budget Procedures
• Performance-Based Budgeting
• Rainy Day Funds
• Supermajority Requirements