To Tallahassee and Back: Building Florida’s Budget
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Despite all the laws that pass each year, and the multitude of press conferences announcing the signing of this or that bill, the only constitutionally mandated job the Legislature has each year is the creation of a state budget.
Although the final dollar amount won’t be finalized until the end of session, the fiscal year 2012-13 budget will be in the neighborhood of $71 million dollars. This is a total of general revenue and trust fund dollars. That is a lot of money, probably more than the budget of some small countries!
The state budget, when signed into law by the governor, will have been the product of hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work. That work will have taken place in committee hearings and at the desks of dedicated staff. The budget will have gone through several iterations until the final product is presented to the governor for signature.
In the beginning…the presiding officers of the respective chambers of the legislature create budget or appropriations committees which handle various areas of state government.
Although the specifics of the committee structure may change under each presiding officer’s tenure, the basic concepts remain the same. An overall appropriation committee oversees the construction of the entire budget. Under that committee is a group of smaller or sub-committee committees that are each tasked to create the budget for a given area of state government (i.e. criminal justice & the court system, education, heath care & social services, and so on).
The smaller budget committees begin meeting well before the legislative session starts. The committees listen to presentations given by state agencies that have budgets falling under the purview of the respective body. The committee also considers the governor’s budget recommendations when they are delivered.
The committee hears the reports of projects conducted since the end of the last session about issues of importance. For example, the higher education appropriation committee may hear a report about the pros and cons of raising college and university tuition. The smaller committees also hear pieces of legislation, filed by members or other standing committees, to determine whether or not they have a fiscal impact and whether or not the state can absorb that impact. The larger budget or appropriation committee tends to be the final arbiter on whether a bill, which has a fiscal impact, moves to the floor of the House or Senate for a floor vote.
There are two basic approaches to proposing the final state budget. One approach is to have the smaller budget committees present their products to the full legislative body for potential amendments and vote on the floor, followed by a subsequent merging into one package. Another approach is for the larger appropriations committee to take the budgets created by the smaller committees and collate them into one large package. During every step of the way members of the committee, or any senator on the floor, can offer amendments to the budget.
This process plays out in both chambers at roughly the same time. Once the House and Senate have completed their own visions for state spending, a budget conference is convened. The presiding officers of both chambers appoint members to sit on the budget conference. Each chamber is represented by the respective chair of the overall budget committee. The House and Senate alternate “hosting” the conference each year.
Budget differences are first dealt with between the two chambers at the subcommittee level. Those issues that are not agreed to are ‘bumped up” to the overall budget chairs. Any issues they can’t resolve end up on the desk of the presiding officers.
Once the differences between the two sides are hammered out a conference report is created. A budget conference report can only be voted up or down. Rules prevent the amending of budget conference reports.
The Florida Constitution requires that the final state budget cannot be voted on until 72 hours has lapsed from the moment it was delivered to the members. It was not that long ago that a hard copy of the budget had to be placed on each member’s desk to start that clock. While hard copies are still delivered, the age of information has allowed the budget to become available in electronic format the moment it is finalized. Once the 72-hour clock has run out the budget is available for a vote. More often than not this time frame expires on the final day of session. The budget is frequently one of the final pieces of legislation to be passed before the session ends.
The budget, like any other piece of legislation, must be signed or vetoed by the governor. In Florida the governor has line-item veto authority and may "strike-out" portions of the budget that he/she does not like. This practice usually removes special projects and budget items frequently known as “turkeys.” In the past, some governors have been known to veto hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations in any given year. Once the governor signs the budget it becomes law and takes effect at the start of the next fiscal year.
I welcome your questions about the legislative process. Please feel free to leave your questions in the comment section, or e-mail me directly, and I will answer them in an upcoming post.
Tallahassee and Back: Thoughts and Observations About Laws that Impact You is an ongoing blog by State Sen. Mike Fasano's chief legislative aide. You can e-mail him at GIORDANO.GREGORY.S11@flsenate.gov.
Greg Giordano
8:21 am on Friday, February 24, 2012
UPDATE- The Florida Senate passed a $70.7 billion dollar budget on 2-23-12, setting up a budget conference with the House (which previously passed a $69.2 billion dollar budget). To finish session on time (3-9-12) the two chambers must hammer out the differences in the two proposals and deliver a final product to the members by 3-6-12 (which triggers the 72-hour budget clock).
Greg Giordano
8:39 am on Monday, February 27, 2012
ANSWER TO A QUESTION:
I was sent a question via Facebook which asked the following: "once the governor signs the finished product is it posted in its entirety, including the "strtikeouts," on the state website?"
This is an excellent question. When the budget is delivered to the governor he has the ability to sign the bill in its entirety, veto it, or line-tem veto particular lines that he dos not support. Once he has taken action, and if that includes line-item vetoes, he transmits the budget to the secretary of state with a letter stating the items he struck out. The budget, and the letter of transmittal, are then made available online and in print.
Greg Giordano
9:31 pm on Friday, March 2, 2012
UPDATE - the legislative budget conference is well under way. The 6th of the month is only a few days from now. If you recall, that is the day in which the budget must be delivered if the legislature is going to end on time. Stay tuned!
michael pechony
2:47 am on Saturday, March 3, 2012
This is great news. Thanks for all of the updates Greg.
Greg Giordano
7:39 am on Saturday, March 3, 2012
Thank you, Michael, for your words of encouragement. I appreciate your readership and support. If you ever have any questions about the legislative process please do not hesitate to ask.
Greg Giordano
3:15 am on Sunday, March 4, 2012
UPDATE - the respective appropriation chairs for the House and the Senate are hammering out the differences that the subcommittees could not resolve. Any issues they are unable to come to an agreement on will be sent to the presiding officers (the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate) to handle before the budget (conference report) goes to print.
Greg Giordano
1:34 am on Monday, March 5, 2012
UPDATE - the legislative budget chairs met on Sunday to discuss unresolved issues such as hospital reimbursements, funding for universities and public schools. Not all issues have been agreed to, however. The budget chairs will meet again today to try to meet the 72 hour deadline that is rapidly approaching.
Greg Giordano
9:44 pm on Monday, March 5, 2012
UPDATE - the House and Senate budget chairs have reportedly wrapped up the final pieces of the state's 2012-2013 budget tonight. With the contentious higher education funding differences resolved, the product can be delivered to the presiding officers for their respective signatures. It appears as though the budget will be ready for approval before Friday's end of the regular legislative session.
Greg Giordano
5:14 pm on Tuesday, March 6, 2012
UPDATE - the conference report for the state budget fiscal year 2012-2013 was officially delivered to lawmakers today at 4:22 PM. Constitutionally the budget must sit for 72 hours before a vote can be taken on it. This coming Friday is the last day of session. A vote on the budget can take place at any time after 4:22 PM that day.
Greg Giordano
11:05 pm on Friday, March 9, 2012
UPDATE - the Florida House of Representatives passed the conference report (state budget) earlier this evening with an 80-37 vote. The Florida Senate has just taken up the budget at this moment...
Greg Giordano
11:40 pm on Friday, March 9, 2012
UPDATE - and the moment we have all been waiting for...the Florida Senate has taken its vote on the state budget. The vote was 32-8.The one task the Legislature must complete each year has been accomplished. Stay tuned for future updates once the budget is delivered to the governor. Will he exercise his veto pen? Stay tuned!
Greg Giordano
11:35 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
UPDATE - it has been eleven days since the Florida Legislature passed the budget. However, it has not yet been delivered to the governor. This is not unusual. Since the budget does not take effect until July 1, 2012 there is plenty of time for it to get to his desk. I shall continue to provide periodic updates on the budget's progress through the halls of the Capitol.
Greg Giordano
7:13 pm on Sunday, April 1, 2012
UPDATE - March has turned into April and still the budget has not made its way to the governor's desk. Continue to check back for more updates about the 2012-13 budget.
Greg Giordano
1:54 pm on Friday, April 6, 2012
UPDATE - the state budget was delivered to the governor today. The governor's action on the budget and the various "conforming" bills that accompany it is one of the most anticipated times during the entire legislative process. Because the governor has line-item veto authority he has the ability to remove individual appropriations from the budget without vetoing the entire package. The governor has up to 15 days to act on the budget.
Greg Giordano
10:38 am on Monday, April 16, 2012
UPDATE - an interesting aspect of Florida's budget process is the annual release of Florida TaxWatch's "Turkey Watch" list. Although not an "official" part of appropriating state dollars, it has become an expected step towards completion of the budget.
According to its website Florida TaxWatch "spotlights legislative projects placed in the budget without the proper opportunity for public review and debate, which circumvent lawfully established procedures, or which noncompetitively benefit a very limited special interest or local area of the state."
Although its list can be controversial, the "turkey" list identifies projects that the governor has the ability to veto through his line-item veto authority. On April 13 TaxWatch released its suggested veto list totally $170.9 million dollars. The governor is not obligated to do anything with the list. It is merely provided as a suggestion of vetoes this particular organization has identified.
The governor is expected to sign the budget, and release his line-item veto list, on April 17. Stay tuned for the latest news!
Greg Giordano
4:05 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
UPDATE: the governor signed the state budget into law today. Please look at my latest blog entry: "To Tallahassee and Back: State Budget is Signed, Sealed and Delivered" for the latest developments.