Role of the Budget Commitee

Home Membership and Services Public Affairs Role of the Budget Commitee

The Role of the Joint Budget Committee

The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) is the General Assembly's permanent fiscal and budget review agency.

The JBC writes the annual appropriations bill - called the Long Bill - for the operations of state government.

The JBC has six members:

House Appropriations Committee
- Chairman
- One majority member
- One minority member
Senate Appropriations Committee
- Chairman
- One majority member
- One minority member

Members serve a two year term and are selected following the general assembly. Traditionally, the Senate elects its JBC members and the Speaker appoints the majority party members. The chairmanship alternates every year between the chairperson of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees.

The JBC is charged with analyzing the management, operations, programs, and fiscal needs of the various departments of state government. The state constitution requires that the JBC propose a balanced budget.

The JBC has 14 non-partisan budget analyst staff, 2 support staff and 1 staff director. The departments and programs of state government are divided among the JBC staff analysts. Analysts review budget requests, prior year staff write-ups, statutes, appropriation reports, audit reports, interim committee reports and meet with agency personnel and other individuals to learn about programs, departments, and their operations.

The JBC activities generally follow a predictable schedule:

Summer - Fall All departments submit their budget proposals to the Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting as part of the executive budget process.

November 1st Departments present their proposed budgets to the JBC members in a budget briefing; the JBC members submit questions to each department and its staff analyst at the time the proposed budget is first presented.

December Every executive branch department comes before the JBC again in a department hearing and presents written and oral responses to the JBC members' questions. Briefing and hearings for most departments are scheduled before the General Assembly convenes in January.

January The JBC considers requests from departments for funding changes (called supplementals) for the current fiscal year. The JBC analyst reviews these requests for funding changes and makes recommendations to the JBC for its approval.

February - March The General Assembly is required to certify, by joint resolution, the amount from the state's General Fund available for appropriation for the next fiscal year. This revenue resolution is very important to the deliberations of the JBC. From February to March, the JBC then makes decisions on the level of funding for each state agency. This process is called "figure setting." Afterwards, the Long Bill is introduced for consideration by both houses, as a House Bill when the JBC Chairman is a Representative and as a Senate Bill when the JBC Chairman is a Senator.

May After the legislative session is over JBC staff writes the Appropriations Report, which explains all funding decisions made by the General Assembly, from both the Long Bill and other bills that contain appropriations.

July The Appropriations Report is published each year.