Texas Government Code 316.031 – Legislative Finding and Intent
(a) The legislature finds that, to ensure the efficient operation of state agencies and to provide for the necessary costs of state government operation, it is in the public interest to provide a means for periodic legislative review and control of unobligated cash balances and income held by state agencies in funds other than the general revenue fund.
(b) It is the intent of the legislature that:
(1) funds with an unobligated balance at the end of a fiscal year in excess of that amount necessary to fulfill an agency’s statutory duties shall be identified within the General Appropriations Act by fund; and
(2) the amounts of unobligated actual or projected balances held in those funds in excess of the amounts determined by the legislature to be sufficient to fulfill statutory requirements shall be appropriated to the general revenue fund.
Terms Used In Texas Government Code 316.031
- 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
- 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.
(c) Any appropriation of fund balances made under this subchapter is for the purpose of providing for the cost of operation of state government. The amount of an unobligated fund balance to be appropriated to the general revenue fund may be designated in the General Appropriations Act as a sum certain or designated through use of a formula or percentage.