In the thick of budget season, I thought I’d take a moment to break down the process involved in its formation. Budget negotiations are scheduled on the legislative calendar from January until April, but in many ways, it’s a year-round undertaking.
Step 1: The Governor’s Budget
The Governor delivers her annual budget address in January, though state agencies actually begin their deliberations about six months prior. Agencies spend the summer evaluating their financial needs so they can make their requests of the Governor in the fall.
Then the Division of the Budget – an agency that serves as the Governor’s chief financial advisor – examines the requests and presents them to the Governor. Her team takes those recommendations and harmonizes them with her priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The result is what’s known as the Executive Budget, which the Governor presents to the Legislature in January.
Step 2: The One-House Budgets
Once the Legislature has seen her budget proposal, there are roughly 10 weeks until the budget must be enacted; this is when the Senate and Assembly really dig in.
Both houses of the Legislature have to submit what is known as a ‘one-house budget’, which include additions, cuts, and modifications made to the Governor’s proposed plan. One of the important components of this phase is listening to local constituents and stakeholder groups about their priorities – which is why I held my annual Orange County budget forum earlier this month.
Throughout February, the Legislature also holds budget hearings to ask questions of the executive branch commissioners – and others – in an effort to be fully informed during our one-house budget negotiations.
Both chambers release their own one-house budgets by early March. At that point, final budget negotiations occur between the Governor, Senate, and Assembly. Our fiscal year runs until April 1 and, generally, budgets are passed at or right around that deadline. When negotiations run late, however, the Governor and Legislature must work
together to pass what are called “extenders” which are bills that fund the state’s operations for an additional one or two weeks in order to afford more time to negotiate.
Step 3: What happens next?
Once a final budget is signed into law, the State Comptroller starts the work to make funds available to agencies, and the cycle begins again in the summer.
Every year we go through this process, and I never take it lightly. I never forget that the funds we’re allocating are your hard-earned tax dollars, and I fight to bring back as much of it to Orange County as possible. I want every dollar to count.
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