Amended  IN  Senate  April 05, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill No. 683

Introduced by Senator Stern
(Coauthors: Senators Hertzberg and Moorlach)

February 17, 2017

An act to amend Section 13337 of the Government Code, relating to state finance.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 683, as amended, Stern. State finance: budget process: machine readable budget. budget format and availability.
The California Constitution requires the Governor to submit a budget for the ensuing fiscal year to the Legislature within the first 10 days of each regular session. Existing law requires that budget to contain a complete plan and itemized statement of all proposed expenditures of the state provided by existing law or recommended by the Governor, and of all estimated revenues, as specified. Existing law requires the budget to be prepared in a specified manner.
This bill would require the budget to be machine readable with flexible data entry points. budget to be made available, on or before July 1, 2019, on the Department of Finance Internet Web site in a prescribed downloadable spreadsheet format. The bill would require the budget for each budget year to be posted and maintained on the site for a period of at least 10 years following the release of that budget.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 13337 of the Government Code is amended to read:

13337.
 (a) The budget required by the State Constitution to be submitted by the Governor at each regular session of the Legislature shall be submitted within the first 10 days of each regular session and shall contain a complete plan and itemized statement of all proposed expenditures of the state provided by existing law or recommended by him or her, and all of its institutions, departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, officers, employees, and other agencies, and of all estimated revenues, for the ensuing fiscal year, together with a comparison, as to each item of revenues and expenditures, with the actual revenues and expenditures for the last completed fiscal year, the estimated revenues, and expenditures for the existing fiscal year and the budgeted revenue and expenditures for the next fiscal year.
(b) The budget shall, in accordance with Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 41200) of Part 24 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, include a section that specifies the percentages and amounts of General Fund revenues that must be set aside and applied for the support of school districts, as defined in Section 41302.5, and community college districts, as required by subdivision (b) of Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
(c) The Governor, or the Department of Finance acting on his or her behalf, shall make appropriate changes in the budget request to reflect any modification in the organization or functions of state government proposed under Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 12080) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 before the passage of the budget.
(d) The Governor’s Budget shall be prepared in accordance with guidelines and instructions adopted by the Department of Finance.
(e) In order to provide meaningful comparisons, the Governor’s Budget shall be prepared in such a manner that the information presented provides for such comparisons between the fiscal years.
(f) The Department of Finance shall submit to the committee in each house which considers appropriations and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee copies of budget material submitted to it by agencies pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 13320).
(g) The Governor’s Budget shall also include a coding structure that indicates for each budget entity the categorization of expenditures and revenues.
(h) Before submitting the Governor’s Budget to the Legislature, the Department of Finance may conduct public hearings regarding any portion of any budget.
(i) The Governor, or the Department of Finance acting on his or her behalf, shall, at the same time the Governor’s Budget is submitted to the Legislature, submit to the Legislature copies of the material for the purposes of subdivision (j).
(j) The Department of Finance shall develop a fiscal information system that will provide timely and uniform fiscal data needed to formulate and monitor the budget, including, but not limited to, online inquiry capacity and the ability to simulate budget expenditures and forecast revenues. This system may include, among other things, data on encumbrances and expenditures by line item, governmental unit, and fund source. The system shall also include expenditures and encumbrances by program, as required. This system shall also include a coding structure that indicates the categorization of expenditures and revenues. This system and the data shall be available to the legislative and executive branches. The system may contain separate programs accessible by only one branch, designed to provide for distinct application of the data, but the basic system data shall be available on an equal basis to the legislative and executive branches of government.

(k)The Governor’s Budget shall be machine readable with flexible data entry points.

(k) On or before July 1, 2019, the Governor’s Budget shall be made available on the Department of Finance Internet Web site in a downloadable spreadsheet format that may include, but is not limited to, a comma-separated values file or a tab-separated values file and that is compatible with a spreadsheet software application that is widely used at the time of the posting. The Governor’s Budget for each budget year shall be posted and maintained on the Department of Finance Internet Web site for a period of at least 10 years following the release of that budget.