Montana Code 17-7-112. Submission deadlines — budgeting schedule
17-7-112. Submission deadlines — budgeting schedule. The following is the schedule for the preparation of a state budget for submission to the legislature convening in any session that will be adopting a state budget:
Terms Used In Montana Code 17-7-112
- Agency: means all offices, departments, boards, commissions, institutions, universities, colleges, and any other person or any other administrative unit of state government that spends or encumbers public money by virtue of an appropriation from the legislature under 17-8-101. See Montana Code 17-7-102
- Base budget: means the resources for the operation of state government that are of an ongoing and nonextraordinary nature in the current biennium. See Montana Code 17-7-102
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Necessary: means essential to the public welfare and of a nature that cannot wait until the next legislative session for legislative consideration. See Montana Code 17-7-102
- Present law base: means that level of funding needed under present law to maintain operations and services at the level authorized by the previous legislature, including but not limited to:
(a)changes resulting from legally mandated workload, caseload, or enrollment increases or decreases;
(b)changes in funding requirements resulting from constitutional or statutory schedules or formulas;
(c)inflationary or deflationary adjustments; and
(d)elimination of nonrecurring appropriations. See Montana Code 17-7-102
- Program: means a principal organizational or budgetary unit within an agency. See Montana Code 17-7-102
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(1)By August 1, forms necessary for preparation of budget estimates must be distributed pursuant to 17-7-111(2).
(2)(a) Except as provided in subsection (2)(b), by September 1, each agency shall submit the information required under 17-7-111 to the budget director.
(b)By September 1, the consolidated legislative branch shall submit a preliminary draft of the information required under 17-7-111 to the budget director. By October 10, the consolidated legislative branch shall submit the information required under 17-7-111 in final form to the budget director.
(3)By September 1, the budget director shall submit each state agency’s budget request, except the budget request for the consolidated legislative branch, required under 17-7-111(3) to the legislative fiscal analyst. The transfer of budget information must be done on a schedule mutually agreed to by the budget director and the legislative fiscal analyst in a manner that facilitates an even transfer of budget information that allows each office to maintain a reasonable staff workflow.
(4)By October 10, the budget director shall furnish the legislative fiscal analyst with a preliminary budget reflecting the base budget in a format agreed upon by both the office of budget and program planning and the legislative fiscal analyst.
(5)By October 30, a budget request must be prepared by the budget director and submitted to the legislative fiscal analyst on behalf of any agency that did not present the information required by this section. The budget request must be based upon the budget director’s studies of the operations, plans, and needs of the institution, university unit, or agency.
(6)By November 1, the budget director shall furnish the legislative fiscal analyst with a present law base for each agency and a copy of the documents that reflect the anticipated receipts and other means of financing the base budget and present law base for each fiscal year of the ensuing biennium. The material must be in a format agreed upon by both the office of budget and program planning and the legislative fiscal analyst.
(7)By November 12, the budget director shall furnish the legislative fiscal analyst with the documents, in a format agreed upon by both the office of budget and program planning and the legislative fiscal analyst, that reflect expenditures to the second level, as provided in 17-1-102(3), by funding source and detailed by accounting entity.
(8)By November 15, the proposed pay plan schedule and the statewide project budget summary required by 17-7-111(4), a preliminary budget that meets the statutory requirements for submission of the budget to the legislature, and a summary of the preliminary budget designed for distribution to members and members-elect of the legislature must be submitted to the legislative fiscal analyst.
(9)By December 15, the budget director shall submit a preliminary budget to the governor and to the governor-elect, if there is one, as provided in 17-7-121, and shall furnish the legislative fiscal analyst with all amendments to the preliminary budget.
(10)By January 7, recommended changes proposed by a governor-elect must be transmitted to the legislative fiscal analyst and the legislature as provided in 17-7-121.