Bill Text: MS SB2042 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: State General Fund budget requests; impose limitations on the growth of state agency budget requests.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [SB2042 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2010-SB2042-Introduced.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2010 Regular Session

To: Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Hewes

Senate Bill 2042

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-103-129, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT STATE GENERAL FUND BUDGET REQUESTS BY STATE AGENCY HEADS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE PRIOR YEAR'S REQUEST BY A PERCENTAGE IN EXCESS OF ANY INCREASE IN ACTUAL GENERAL FUND REVENUE COLLECTIONS IN THE LATEST FISCAL YEAR WITH CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  Section 27-103-129, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     27-103-129.  (1)  To enable the Legislative Budget Office to prepare such budget, it shall have full and plenary power and authority to require all general-fund and special-fund agencies and the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Division of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation to file a budget request with such information and in such form and in such detail as it may deem necessary and advisable, and it shall have the further power and authority to reduce or eliminate any item or items of requested appropriation by any state agency in the Legislative Budget Office's recommended budget to the Legislature.  However, where any item of requested appropriation shall be so reduced or eliminated, the head of the agency involved shall have the right to appear before the appropriate legislative committee to urge a revision of the budget to restore the item reduced or eliminated.  Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall include a definition of the mission of the agency, a description of the duties and responsibilities of the agency, financial data relative to the various programs operated by the agency and performance measures associated with each program of the agency.  The performance measures to be contained within the agency budget request shall be developed by cooperative efforts of the Legislative Budget Office, the Department of Finance and Administration and the agency itself and shall be approved jointly by the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration prior to inclusion within the agency budget request.  Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall also include in an addendum format a five-year strategic plan for the agency which shall include, but not be limited to, the following items of information: 

          (a)  A comprehensive mission statement,

          (b)  Performance effectiveness objectives for each program of the agency for each of the five (5) years covered by the plan,

          (c)  A description of significant external factors which may affect the projected levels of performance,

          (d)  A description of the agency's internal management system utilized to evaluate its performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels,

          (e)  An evaluation by the agency of the agency's performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels for the two (2) preceding fiscal years for which accounting records have been finalized.

     (2)  (a)  As used in this subsection:

              (i)  "Fiscal year spending request" means the total amount of monies requested by a general-fund or special-fund agency head for appropriation by the Legislature, except:

                   1.  Appropriation-funded monies received from the federal government;

                   2.  Principal and interest on bonded indebtedness;

                   3.  Appropriations funded by unemployment and disability insurance funds;

                   4.  Appropriations funded by user charges or fees to the extent that such charges or fees do not exceed the cost of the goods or services and its purchase by the user;

                   5.  Any appropriations funded from gifts, bequests or trust funds; and

                   6.  Appropriations for new programs or services mandated in the previous year by general act of the Legislature.

              (ii) "Inflation" means the Consumer Price Index for the United States of America as computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

          (b)  For any fiscal year that commences after January 1, 2010, the maximum annual percentage increase in state fiscal year spending requests by any state general-fund or special-fund agency shall not exceed any increase in actual General Fund revenue collections calculated as of June in the latest fiscal year plus the sum of inflation, as certified by the State Fiscal Officer.   If the amount of actual General Fund revenue collections for the latest fiscal year is less than the amount of General Fund revenue collections for the next preceding fiscal year, the maximum amount of the budget request shall be the amount requested for the most recent year in which the amount of total General Fund revenue collections exceeded the amount collected in the preceding fiscal year.

          (c)  The limitations established under this subsection (2) shall be set forth in a standard instruction format by the Legislative Budget Office annually not later than August 1 of each fiscal year.

     (3)  All agencies enumerated in subsection (1) of this section shall include in their budget requests the following information regarding contract workers for the most recently completed fiscal year:

          (a)  The name of each worker;

          (b)  The specific type of services provided;

          (c)  Hourly rate of compensation, or the basis for compensation if a rate other than the hourly rate is used;

          (d)  Total gross salary or wages paid; and

          (e)  Whether the worker is a retired member of the Public Employees' Retirement System.

     (4)  (a)  In addition to any other information required by law, each state agency, general-fund agency and special-fund agency, as defined in Section 27-103-103, desiring to purchase any vehicle as defined by this section shall submit as part of its budget request to the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration a detailed justification for the proposed purchase.  The Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration shall jointly prescribe the forms and formats to be used by agencies making the requests.  Such forms shall require, at minimum, the following information:

              (i)  The kind of vehicle to be purchased;

              (ii)  The person to whom the vehicle will be assigned and the employment responsibilities of that person which necessitate a state-owned vehicle;

              (iii)  Whether the vehicle is a work vehicle or passenger vehicle; and

              (iv)  If the vehicle is assigned to a pool and not an individual, the purposes for which the pool vehicle is assigned and the names of the anticipated users of the pool vehicle.

          (b)  The Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration shall offer a recommendation to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on all agency requests for vehicles.  In making the recommendation, the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration may consider break-even analyses for the kind of vehicle requested, the travel patterns of the person for whom the vehicle shall be acquired, and shall determine if there exists surplus vehicles in the possession of other agencies that could be used as a substitute for a new vehicle and why such vehicle should not be used.  Beginning July 1, 2007, the purchase of vehicles by an agency shall be a specific line item in the agency's appropriation bill.

          (c)  If an agency determines that an urgent need exists for a vehicle when it is not feasible to obtain prior legislative approval, the agency may make an emergency request to the Bureau of Fleet Management.  Any emergency determination shall be made only upon the existence of extraordinary circumstances.  The Bureau of Fleet Management shall make a recommendation to the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration and shall give notification of such recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House and the Chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Appropriations Committees.  The Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration shall have the final authority to approve or disapprove the emergency request.  The executive director must set forth specific reasons for approval which shall be a public record.  If approved and if adequate funding is available, the agency may purchase a specific vehicle to meet its specific emergency needs.  The Bureau of Fleet Management shall report any emergency purchase to the Legislative Budget Office.  Any such vehicle shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as provided for nonemergency vehicles.

          (d)  For purposes of this subsection * * * (4) and subsection (5) of this section, the term "passenger vehicle" shall mean a vehicle used primarily in transporting agency personnel and the agency's equipment from one location to another.  This term shall include only those vehicles for which a license plate or tag is required under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972.

          (e)  For purposes of this subsection * * * (4) and subsection (5) of this section, the term "work vehicle" shall mean a vehicle used primarily to perform a work assignment or task while incidentally transporting agency personnel and agency equipment from one location to another.  This term shall include only those vehicles for which a license plate or tag is required under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972.

     (5)  All state agencies, special-fund agencies and general-fund agencies making budget requests under the authority of this section shall include with their budget requests a report of all passenger and work vehicles in their possession.  Such report shall detail the persons to whom the vehicles are assigned and the purposes for the vehicles.

     (6)  Subsections (4) and (5) of this section shall not apply to any vehicle assigned to a sworn officer of the Department of Public Safety and used in undercover operations.

     (7)  The provisions of subsections (4) and (5) of this section shall not apply to any state institution of higher learning.

     (8)  Beginning July 1, 2007, the purchase of wireless communication devices as defined in Section 25-53-191 by any state agency, special-fund agency or general-fund agency making budget requests under the authority of this section shall be a specific line item in the agency's appropriation bill.

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.


feedback