ASSEMBLY, No. 1694

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MARCH 4, 1996

 

 

By Assemblymen ROBERTS, ROMANO, Assemblywoman Buono, Assemblymen Suliga, Doria and Jones

 

 

An Act requiring public participation and government accountability in the preparation and submission of the Governor's annual budget recommendations, supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Public Accountability for Revenues and Expenditures Act."

 

    2. The Legislature finds and declares that the constitututional requirement of a unitary, annual, general appropriations act covering one fiscal year is the center beam upon which the State government's entire fiscal structure rests, that the constitutional and statutory budgetary and appropriations authority has been both centered in and shared by the legislative and executive branches with a noticeable absence of public involvement in the budget process, that the right of the public to witness and participate in all phases of the deliberation, policy formation and decision-making of State public officials in the development of the annual appropriations act for the State government is essential to the enhancement of the democratic process; that the ability of the Executive Branch and the Legislature to develop the annual spending plan for the State government in secret, in "behind closed door" discussions involving a few selected officials, undermines the faith of the public in representative democratic processes and the public's effectiveness in contributing to the formulation of important fiscal policies that impact on all members of the public; and hereby declares it to be the public policy of this State and of this act to ensure increased public access and involvement at all stages of the preparation, deliberation and enactment of the annual State budget.

 

    3. a. Before the preparation and submission of spending requests for the ensuing fiscal year pursuant to section 5 of article 3 of P.L.1944, c.112 (C.52:27B-14), the request officer of each State spending agency shall establish a volunteer citizen's budget advisory committee composed of volunteer State citizens to conduct open public hearings on the preparation of the spending agency's spending request for that fiscal year. The request officer of the spending agency shall determine the size and composition of the committee based upon the size and structure of the agency's budget.

    b. Each volunteer citizen's budget advisory committee, with the cooperation of the spending agency, shall conduct hearings at diverse geographical locations in the State and at times, during evening hours, as may be convenient for public attendance. Spending agencies with combined prior fiscal year State appropriations not in excess of $200,000,000 from State funds may cooperate in the holding of joint advisory committee hearings. The request officer of each spending agency may have prepared written transcripts, audio or video recordings or written minutes of advisory committee hearings which shall be available for inspection by the public.

    c. Each spending agency shall include with its request submitted pursuant to section 7 of article 3 of P.L.1944, c.112 (C.52:27B-16), a written report summarizing the public commentary at the advisory committee's public hearings. These reports shall be submitted with the Governor's budget recommendations transmitted to the Legislature pursuant to section 11 of article 3 of P.L.1944, c.112 (C.52:27B-16).

 

    4. a. In addition to the requirements of section 11 of article 3 of P.L.1944, c.112 (C.52:27B-16), and any other provisions of law, the Governor's budget message transmitted annually to the Legislature shall identify all programs and services, including brief descriptions and statutory citations thereof, that are established in the permanent and general statutory law which explicitly or implicitly set forth a requirement for annual State funding, but are not recommended for full funding in the Governor's budget recommendations, or are otherwise modified or restricted by proposed budget-based conditions.

    b. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Governor shall submit to the Legislature with the Governor's annual budget recommendations a list of all proposed new or additional revenue raising sources, other legislative actions, regulatory actions, federal actions and collective bargaining actions that are necessary to implement all provisions of the annual budget recommendations.

 

    5. The State Treasurer and the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer shall, on or before May 31 annually, provide the Legislature with their estimates of the amount of revenue collected and anticipated to be collected by the State to support appropriations for the current fiscal year and to support appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year. If the estimate of the State Treasurer for total State revenue for the current fiscal year exceeds the estimate of the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer for total State revenue for that year by 2% or more, the Governor shall transmit to the Legislature a plan detailing revisions to the current fiscal year appropriations act, or other contingency measures that may be undertaken during the current fiscal year, to address the potential of a revenue shortfall equal to the difference in the revenue estimates. If the estimate of the State Treasurer for total State revenue for the ensuing fiscal year exceeds the estimate of the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer for total State revenue for that year by 2% or more, the Governor shall transmit to the Legislature revised budget recommendations, or other contingency measures that may be undertaken during the ensuing fiscal year, to address the potential of a revenue shortfall equal to the difference in the revenue estimates.

 

    6. This act shall take effect July 1, 1996.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill proposes the "Public Accountability for Revenues and Expenditures Act," or PARE act, to maximize public input during all stages of formulating the annual State appropriations act. The PARE act revises the process of producing the State's annual budget act, from the development of the Governor's annual budget recommendations through adoption of the annual State appropriations act. This bill, in conjunction with a companion concurrent resolution to revise the Legislature's budget procedures, will increase public access at all stages from departmental submission of budget requests to the Governor through the Governor's budget proposal and on to deliberation and consideration of the bill passed by the Legislature. The provisions of the PARE act not only focus on increasing public input, but also enhance the opportunity for public action affecting the final State budget. This bill will limit the ability of the Executive and the Legislature to develop an annual State spending plan "behind closed doors."

    The provisions of this bill modify the Executive branch's formulation and submission of the Governor's annual budget recommendations and accompanying State revenue estimates. The bill requires each State department to establish a volunteer citizen's budget advisory committee to conduct Statewide open public hearings on department budget requests before they are presented to the Governor. The bill requires the Governor to identify all unfunded or under funded statutory programs or services in order to increase public awareness of previously enacted programs or services eligible for State funding that may not be receiving funding.

    The bill requires the Governor to submit with the budget message a list of all other legislative measures, regulatory measures, federal actions, or collective bargaining actions, which must be undertaken in order to implement the proposed State budget.

    The bill also requires the Governor to present current budget year revisions or contingency plans for the ensuing fiscal year if the State Treasurer's State revenue estimates are in excess of the revenue estimates of the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer by 2% or more for the current or ensuing fiscal year.

    These requirements, in conjunction with the adoption of legislative rules establishing increased public input into the appropriations committees' deliberations, procedures for committee mark-up of the appropriations bill, and requirements for a series of public hearings and recorded public testimony before legislative consideration and passage of the budget bill, will serve the goal of restoring representative democratic processes and open public input in the development of the annual appropriations act.

 

 

                             

 

The "Public Accountability for Revenues and Expenditures Act;" revises Executive branch procedures for the development and submission of the Governor's annual budget recommendations.