• Mission & Governance
• Services Overview
• How to Get Involved
• Standing Committees
• NCSL Foundation

• Issue Areas: A-Z
• State-Federal Relations
• NCSL Standing Committees
• News from D.C. and the States

• About State Legislatures
• Elections, Campaigns & Redistricting
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory
• Web Sites

• Online Guide to NCSL Services
• Staff Sections and Networks
• Meetings & Professional Development
• Staff Directories

• Meetings Calendar
• Online Registration
• Meetings Home Page
• Legislative Summit

• Bookstore
• State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory

Vote Required to Pass the Budget

Legislative Budget Procedures: Enactment of the Budget

Legislative Budget Procedures Executive Summary

Vote Required to Pass the Budget

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, December 1997; and Council of State Governments, The Book of the States, 1996-1997.

Key:
-- = Not applicable
N/R = No response

*Notes:

Alaska--A simple majority is required to pass the budget. In Alaska, a simple majority is required for most annual appropriations, but if expenditures are expected to exceed the appropriation level in the prior year's budget and a withdrawal from the budget reserve fund is needed to make up the difference, a three-fourths vote is required (Const., Art. IX, Sec. 17(c)). Since the provision became effective in 1991, the supermajority has been necessary for few appropriation items in each budget.

Arkansas--A majority is required for education and highways; a three-fourths vote of the elected members is required on all others.

California--A two-thirds majority is required for appropriations from the general fund, except for public school appropriations, which require a simple majority.

Connecticut-- Appropriations require a simple majority of members elected, unless the general fund expenditure ceiling is exceeded. In that case, the Legislature must obtain a three-fifths majority (C.G.S.A. Sec. 2-33a).

Hawaii--If the general fund expenditure ceiling is exceeded, a two-thirds vote is required; otherwise, the majority of elected members is required.

Illinois--A majority vote in each house is required to pass the budget until June 1. After that date, the required vote increases to three-fifths majority.

Maine--For emergency enactment, a two-thirds vote is required.

Massachusetts--For the capital budget, a two-thirds vote is required.

Mississippi--A majority elected is required to pass the agency appropriations bill, unless a bill is considered a donation (i.e., a donation to the Mississippi Burn Center). In this case, Joint Rule 66 requires a two-thirds vote of the elected members.

Nebraska--Main budget bills typically have the "e" (emergency) clause attached, thus requiring a two-thirds vote. (The "e" clause is necessary for the budget to be operative by the beginning of the fiscal year.)

North Dakota--Emergency measures and measures that amend a statute that has been referred or enacted through an initiated measure within the last seven years must pass both houses by a two-thirds majority.

South Dakota--A two-thirds majority is required for individual spending bills.

Published March 1998; posted January 2004.
The publication to which this table belongs, Legislative Budget Procedures: A Guide to Appropriations and Budget Processes in the States, Commonwealths and Territories, is available wholly and solely online.
Email mailto:statebudget-info@ncsl.org?subject=Legislative Budget Procedures: Vote Required to Pass the Budget for more information.
Visitor counts for this page.