Montana Code 17-1-507. Principles of revenue dedication
17-1-507. Principles of revenue dedication. (1) It is the policy of the legislature that a revenue source not be dedicated for a specific purpose unless one or more of the following conditions are met:
Terms Used In Montana Code 17-1-507
- Administrative costs: includes :
(a)personal services;
(b)operating expenses, such as travel, supplies, and communication costs; and
(c)capital expenses, such as equipment, building costs, and real property costs. See Montana Code 17-1-502
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Dedicated revenue provision: means an administrative or legislative action that allocates the revenue from a tax, fee, assessment, or other source to an account in the state special revenue fund, as described in 17-2-102, or to a local government. See Montana Code 17-1-502
- General revenue source: means a source of revenue not governed by established or implied restrictions based on the source or limited use of the revenue. See Montana Code 17-1-502
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(a)The person or entity paying the tax, fee, or assessment is the direct beneficiary of the specific activity that is funded by the tax, fee, or assessment; the entire cost of the activity is paid by the beneficiary; and the tax, fee, or assessment paid is commensurate with the cost of the activity, including reasonable administrative costs.
(b)There is an expectation that funds donated by a person or entity will be used for a specified purpose. Grants from private or public entities are considered donations under this subsection.
(c)There is a legal basis for the revenue dedication. A legal basis is a constitutional mandate, federal mandate, or statutory requirement in which a source of funds is designated for a specific purpose.
(d)There is a recognized need for accountability through a separation of funding from the general fund consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.
(2)The total funding for a program is a legislative budget and policy issue for which a dedicated revenue provision may not be justified if:
(a)a general fund appropriation is needed to supplement the dedicated revenue support for the program or activity; or
(b)dedicating a revenue source or portion of a revenue source diverts funds that could be considered a general revenue source.
(3)In the consideration of the general appropriations act for each biennium, the legislature shall determine the appropriateness of dedicating revenue to a program or activity under conditions described in subsection (2). The office of budget and program planning shall describe the occurrence in its presentation of the executive budget, and the legislative fiscal analyst shall highlight the issue in the budget analysis and for the appropriations subcommittee considering the revenue dedication.