• 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

Provisions and Procedures to Finance Agency Operations If the Appropriations Act Is not Passed by the Beginning of the Fiscal Year

Legislative Budget Procedures: Enactment of the Budget

Legislative Budget Procedures Executive Summary

Provisions and Procedures to Finance Agency Operations If the Appropriations Act Is not Passed by the Beginning of the Fiscal Year

*Notes:

Arizona --Dedicated revenue fund expenditures can continue.

California--Due to other appropriation authority (debt service, retirement payments) or due to administrative interpretation of court ruling (welfare, state employee salaries), a large portion of the budget continues to be paid.

Connecticut --Using "Special Acts," Connecticut passes two-week mini-budgets to keep the state operating if the budget has not been enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year.

Georgia --Payments for debt service are continuous and dedicated revenue fund expenditures can continue.

Hawaii --Expenditures from revolving and trust funds and funds established to provide services by any state department or establishment, to other state departments or establishments, or to any political subdivision of the state, may be made without appropriation or allotment.

Illinois --A majority vote in each house is required to pass the budget until June 1. After that date, the required vote increases to a three-fifths majority. This provision was implemented to encourage timely passage of the budget.

Indiana--The following payments can continue: 1) all psychiatric hospitals, 2) School for the Deaf, 3) School for the Blind, 4) Veterans' Home, 5) Boys' School.

Kentucky --Constitutional obligations continue.

Maryland--The Constitution requires that the budget be enacted by the 83rd day of the 90-day legislative session. If the budget is not enacted by midnight of the 90th day, all other pending legislation dies and only the budget can be considered. Although the governor has had to extend the session for this purpose, the budget has always been passed by July 1.

Massachusetts --This is not statutory, but must be practiced in order to continue government services; otherwise, funding would expire on June 30.

Minnesota--There would be some open and standing appropriations and special revenues or federal revenues for some portions of government that would continue. Because there is no provision, there is no legal authority to spend money unless it has been appropriated (MN Constitution, Article N1, Section 1).

Missouri--Road fund expenditures can continue.

Montana --Several programs do not receive an appropriation, or receive statutory funding. These programs would remain in operation.

Nevada--There is no provision; the state has never experienced this situation, but a continuing resolution is drafted.

New Jersey--Unclear; the governor has certain emergency powers in a situation like this that have not been tested.

New York--The state uses two-, four- and six-week interim budgets to meet payroll and other state obligations. The interim budgets are status quo documents that maintain previously authorized levels of spending. Such continuing resolutions or emergency appropriations must be submitted by the governor, or the Legislature cannot act on them.

North Carolina--The General Assembly is not legally obligated to pass a continuing resolution, but it always has. The state routinely passes a provision authorizing "the director of the budget to continue expenditures for the operation of government at the level in effect on June 30th of the fiscal year just ended." The provision usually is in effect for 30 days; another bill can be enacted to extend a continuation budget for another month.

Ohio--The General Assembly must pass an interim budget; otherwise, there is no authority for any agency to spend money for any purpose.

Oregon--A law was passed in 1993 that "authorized continued expenditures by state agencies on and after July 1, 1993, at rates established for the last quarter of the 1993-95 biennium, if there is no legislatively approved 1993-95 budget." A similar measure was adopted in 1997.

Pennsylvania--Employees must be paid from revenues per Commonwealth Court ruling. Other expenditures halt, pending continuing resolution or "stop gap" funding.

Rhode Island--Rhode Island's provision states, "In an emergency caused by a failure of the General Assembly to pass the annual appropriations bill, the same amounts appropriated in the previous fiscal year shall be available for each department and division thereof, subject to monthly or quarterly allotments."

Vermont--Government shuts down unless the departments can operate on carryover spending authority.

Washington--Statutes make failure to pass a budget at least 30 days before the new biennium a misdemeanor, although no penalty has ever been applied. The Legislature has been late three times since the provision was enacted in 1959.

West Virginia--The session is automatically extended if budget has not passed by day 57 of the 60-day session. During this extended session, only the budget can be considered. The 60-day session is January through March; the fiscal year ends June 30.

Wisconsin--Agencies automatically receive some level of funding until the budget is passed.

Guam --Agencies automatically receive some level of funding until the budget is passed.

Northern Mariana Islands--The Commonwealth Constitution and its enabling statute, P.L. 3-68, provides that a continuing resolution becomes effective if a budget is not enacted at the beginning of the new fiscal year. The government shall operate under the same funding levels as last year until a new budget is passed.

Puerto Rico--A constitutional provision provides for the previous year's budget to remain in effect until a new budget has been enacted.

Legislative Budget Procedures Executive Summary

Posted June 2003, reviewed June 2006.
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 Legislative Budget Procedures: Provisions and Procedures to Finance Agency Operations If the Appropriations Act Is not Passed by the Beginning of the Fiscal Year for more information.
Visitor counts for this page.