BILL ANALYSIS �
ACA 16
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUDGET
Bob Blumenfield, Chair
ACA 16 (Logue) - As Introduced: February 10, 2011
SUBJECT : State budget
SUMMARY : Requires an estimate of General Fund revenues be made
jointly by the Controller and Treasurer and provided to the
Legislature and Governor by January 5 of each year with an
update provided by April 30 of each year. Specifically, this
bill :
1) Requires that the Controller and the Treasurer to jointly
provide to the Governor and the Legislature by January 5 of
each year an estimate of the General Fund revenues for the
budget year.
2) Requires that the Controller and the Treasurer to jointly
provide to the Governor and the Legislature by April 30 of
each year an amended estimate which represents corrected and
updated estimates of the General Fund revenues for the budget
year.
3) Prohibits the Legislature from sending to the Governor and
the Governor from signing a Budget Bill that would
appropriate more (together with other appropriations and
amounts transferred to the Budget Stabilization Account) than
General Fund revenues for that fiscal year as estimated
jointly by the Controller and Treasurer.
EXISTING LAW : Requires submission by the Governor to the
Legislature a budget plan with proposed expenditures and
estimated revenues. Prohibits the Legislature from sending a
Budget Bill to the Governor that would appropriate from the
General Fund amounts in excess of General Fund revenues and
prevents the Governor from signing such a bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : Costs in the mid-hundreds of thousands of
dollars to establish a new jointly administered revenue
estimating unit.
ACA 16
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COMMENTS : The Controller serves as the state's chief fiscal
officer and as such, the office offers professional
administrative services, fiscal controls, and independent
oversight of the state's financial activities. The office
monitors cash balances as part of its regular duties. The
Treasurer provides custodial financial services, investment
activities, and debt issuances on behalf of the state. Neither
office currently engages to any substantial degree in revenue
estimating. Such revenue estimating activities are currently
conducted by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO), the results of which are incorporated in
the budget process. Such revenue estimating relies on complex
economic and financial modeling and requires a non-trivial
commitment of resources and substantial technical expertise.
Given this, it is likely that any estimates by the Controller
and Treasurer would either rely on existing data sources, such
as those estimates already conducted by DOF or LAO, or would
require an additional commitment of resources to establish an
independent revenue estimating unit for each of these entities.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Ibele / BUDGET / (916) 319-2099