Report Title:

Fiscal Note; Legislature

 

Description:

Requires fiscal note for each bill that affects state funds.  Informs legislators of all costs associated with a particular bill and requires a reliable estimate of the cost of any proposed legislation.  Prohibits any committee of the legislature from holding hearing on any measure until a fiscal note on that measure has been prepared by the legislative officer.  The fiscal note shall contain an estimate of the immediate and long-range costs of the measure, as well as a listing of any revenue it will produce or savings it will bring about.  Requires costs to be itemized in the fiscal note to reflect the capital expenditures and operating costs needed to implement the measure.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	803
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to fiscal note.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  Title III, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Chapter

FISCAL NOTE

     §   -1  Short title.  This chapter may be cited as the Fiscal Note Act.

     §   -2  Requirements for a fiscal note.  Every legislative measure that affects the receipt, expenditure, or allocation of state funds, either directly or indirectly, shall have attached to it, prior to its consideration by any committee of either house of the legislature, a fiscal note that shall include a reliable estimate of the fiscal impact of the measure.  A fiscal note shall not constitute a legal attachment of the proposed measure.

     §   -3  Preparation by legislative officer.  The sponsor of a legislative measure requiring a fiscal note shall be responsible for obtaining the required note from the appropriate legislative officer.  The legislative officer shall be appointed by the president of the senate in the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives in the house of representatives.  The legislative officer shall be responsible for obtaining, directly or through a state agency, the information necessary to complete the fiscal note.  The agency furnishing the information to the legislative officer shall do so within twenty-four hours.  The legislative officer shall then prepare the fiscal note and transmit it to the sponsor of the measure.  The legislative officer, for good and appropriate cause, may approve an extension of time to furnish the information.

     §   -4  Form of the fiscal note.  The fiscal note shall consist of two parts, a work sheet and a fiscal effect form.  The note shall be prepared and distributed by the legislative officer to the appropriate agency.

     The fiscal effect form shall be factual, brief, and concise and shall provide an estimate in dollars of the immediate and long-range fiscal effect of the measure.  If no dollar estimate is possible, the fiscal note shall set forth the reasons therefor.  The fiscal note shall not contain any reference to the merits of the measure.

     The work sheet shall include a breakdown of the costs that the measure is expected to generate, such as for personnel, materials, supplies, capital outlay, the effect of expenditures or allocation or receipt of funds, and any other information that may be required by the legislative officer.

     The fiscal note shall be prepared in quintuplicate.  The name of the agency furnishing the information shall appear at the end of the fiscal note and the original of both the work sheet and the fiscal effect form shall be signed by the head of the agency or by a designee.

     The legislative officer shall prepare a fiscal note in the same manner as provided in this section and shall transmit it in quintuplicate to the measure's sponsor as provided in section    ‑3.  The fiscal note prepared by the agency shall be preserved by the legislative officer and a copy shall be transmitted to the measure's sponsor or any other person upon request.

     §   -5  Absence of fiscal note.  Whenever any committee of either house reports any measure with any amendment that alters the fiscal effect of the measure, there shall be attached to the amendment, a fiscal note delineating the fiscal effect of the change proposed by the amendment.  The committee chairperson shall request the note from the legislative officer.  Whenever a floor amendment alters the fiscal effect of a measure and is without a fiscal note, any member of the house in question may offer a motion that the amendment be withdrawn.  The amendment may be proposed again at any time it would otherwise be in order; provided that the required fiscal note is attached.

     §   -6  Absence of fiscal note.  Whenever a measure requiring a fiscal note has been reported by any committee of either house of the legislature without a fiscal note, any member, on the reading of the measure, may offer a motion to defer the measure.

     §   -7  Confidentiality of legislation.  Agencies involved in the preparation of the required information for a fiscal note shall keep in strict confidence the subject matter of the proposed measure and the information contained in the fiscal note prior to the filing or pre-filing of the measure with the chief clerk of each respective house.

     Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

     §   -8  Exemptions.  A fiscal note shall not be required for the general appropriations bill, any bill which appropriates a specific amount, nor any measure affecting state funds for retirement purposes.

     §   -9  Programs using federal funds.  Notwithstanding the provisions of section    -8, a fiscal note shall be required for any measure concerning any program wholly or partially funded by federal moneys that involves an expenditure of state funds or a legislative appropriation of funds.  The fiscal note shall reflect the immediate and long-range fiscal effect on the state of any applicable program and shall also include the following information:

     (1)  The length of time the federal funds are to be provided; and

     (2)  The probable amount of state funds required to continue the program.

The fiscal note shall comply with all rules and contain all the information contained in other fiscal notes."

     SECTION 2.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________