BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 27
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 5, 2011

                            ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUDGET
                               Bob Blumenfield, Chair
                    AB 27 (Gorell) - As Amended:  December 6, 2011
           
          SUBJECT  :   State Budget

           SUMMARY  :   Requires the budget bill to be in print for 72 hours 
          prior to the passage.  This bill also stipulates the format for 
          which state agencies and departments submit budget requests to 
          the Department of Finance.  Specifically,  this bill  :

          1)Requires that the budget bill be in print and posted for at 
            least 72 hours prior to passage of the act;

          2)Requires each state agency, department, or the courts to 
            submit to the Department of Finance a budget that contains 80 
            percent of the general fund appropriation of the previous 
            year; and,

          3)Requires specific information be included in the budget 
            submission of each state agency, department, or the courts to 
            the Department of Finance.  This information includes score 
            functions, goals, outcome-oriented performance measure, and 
            the impact of the reduction of General Fund appropriation on 
            the core functionality of the department, agency, or court.

           EXISTING LAW  :   Requires state agencies, departments, and the 
          courts to submit a detailed budget to the Department of Finance 
          in a manner prescribed by the department.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Some unidentified additional costs associated 
          with additional analytical time needed to fulfill the new 
          reporting requirements.

           COMMENTS  :   This bill is titled the "Priority Based Budget Act 
          of 2011."  According to the author, the bill intends to shift 
          the State's budgeting approach to a "priority based budget" 
          costs management tool.  The author cites use of a similar 
          budgeting process in several California cities.











                                                                  AB 27
                                                                  Page  2

          Under current law, the Department of Finance has the authority 
          to structure the format for budgets it receives from agencies, 
          departments, and the courts.  This includes cut scenarios that 
          departments must submit to help balance the budget.   It is 
          unclear whether this bill would still allow Finance to request 
          scenarios beyond the 80 percent target set by this law or if 
          Finance could make other requests of agencies and departments.

          In the last five years, the budget bill has been in print more 
          than 72 hours prior to adoption on the floor four of five times. 
           The one exception was in 2010-11, when the budget was adopted 
          on October 7, 2010, which was the latest budget ever adopted, 
          and was passed 100 days after the budget deadline. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          None on File.
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Christian Griffith / BUDGET / (916) 
          319-2099