§ 306. Budget report

(a) The Governor shall submit to the General Assembly, not later than the third Tuesday of every annual session, a budget that shall embody his or her estimates, requests, and recommendations for appropriations or other authorizations for expenditures from the State Treasury. In the first year of the biennium, the budget shall relate to the two succeeding fiscal years. In the second year of the biennium, it shall relate to the succeeding fiscal year. The budget shall be based upon the official State revenue estimates, including the Medicaid estimated caseloads and per-member per-month expenditures, adopted by the Emergency Board pursuant to section 305a of this title.

(1) As part of the budget report, the Governor shall:

(A) develop and publish annually for public review a current services budget, providing the public with an estimate of what the current level of services is projected to cost in the next fiscal year;

(B) provide an estimated cost of deferred infrastructure maintenance in the State’s transportation system; and

(C) itemize current services liabilities, including the total obligations and the amount estimated for full funding in the current year in which an amortization schedule exists. These shall include the following liabilities projected for the start of the budget fiscal year:

(i) pension liabilities for the Vermont State Employees’ Retirement System (VSERS) and the Vermont State Teachers’ Retirement System (VSTRS) and other postemployment benefit liabilities under current law and relevant Government Accounting Standards Board standards for these systems;

(ii) child care fee scale funding requirements pursuant to 33 V.S.A. § 3512 to bring total year funding to current market rates and current federal poverty levels;

(iii) Reach Up funding full benefit obligations, including the standard of need for the current fiscal year, prior to any rateable reductions made pursuant to 33 V.S.A. § 1103(a), which ensure that the expenditures for the programs shall not exceed appropriations;

(iv) statutory funding levels from the Property Transfer Tax;

(v) projected fund liabilities of the funds identified in the “Notes” section of the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), including the Workers’ Compensation Fund, the State Liability Insurance Fund, the Medical Insurance Fund, and the Dental Insurance Fund; and

(vi) a summary of other nonmajor enterprise funds and internal service funds where deficits exist in excess of $1,500,000.00.

(2) The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this subsection.

(b) The Governor shall also submit to the General Assembly, not later than the third Tuesday of each session of every biennium, a tax expenditure budget that shall embody his or her estimates, requests, and recommendations. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this subsection. The tax expenditure budget shall be divided into three parts and made as follows:

(1) A budget covering tax expenditures related to nonprofits and charitable organizations and covering miscellaneous expenditures shall be made by the third Tuesday of the legislative session beginning in January 2012 and every three years thereafter.

(2) A budget covering tax expenditures related to economic development, including business, investment, and energy, shall be made by the third Tuesday of the legislative session beginning in January 2013 and every three years thereafter.

(3) A budget covering tax expenditures made in furtherance of Vermont’s human services, including tax expenditures affecting veterans, shall be made by the third Tuesday of the legislative session beginning in January 2014 and every three years thereafter.

(c) The tax expenditure budget shall be provided to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, which Committees shall review the tax expenditure budget and shall report their recommendations in bill form.

(d) The Governor shall develop a process for public participation in the development of budget goals, as well as general prioritization and evaluation of spending and revenue initiatives. (Amended 1969, No. 75, § 4; 1973, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1974; 1987, No. 243 (Adj. Sess.), § 58, eff. June 13, 1988; 2009, No. 1 (Sp. Sess.), § H.16, eff. June 2, 2009; 2011, No. 45, § 36j, eff. May 24, 2011; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 56; 2015 No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § E.100.7; 2017, No. 85, § C.117, eff. June 28, 2017; 2019, No. 72, § E.124.)