Quiz on California Budget Process

This quiz is to test your knowledge about California’s budget process. Below are the questions followed by the answers:

1. The budget bill and budget bills junior contain multiple items of appropriations.
2. California remains one of three states that require a super-majority vote for passage fo the state budget.
3. A trailer bill makes changes to the budget bill.
4. The state Constitution contains three budget-related dates: January 10 for the Governor to propose the budget; June 15 for the Legislature to pass the budget; and, July 1 for the fiscal year to begin.
5. A budget change proposal, or BCP, contains proposed expenditures and budget changes to existing levels of service that are used to prepare the Governor’s budget.
6. A deficiency always results in an appropriation.
7. Budget control language is contained in a budget trailer bill because it conditions the use of an appropriation.
8. “Finance Letters” are proposals made by the Director of Finance to the chairs of the budget committees in each house to amend the Budget Bill and the Governor’s Budget from the form submitted by January 10 in order to reflect a revised plan of expenditure.
9. The public has no way of knowing the amount of revenues projected to be received by the state.
10. A reversion clause is used with one or more appropriations. This clause means that state funds revert back to the General Fund or a special fund, unless the legislation appropriating the funds specifies that they do not.
11. The purpose of each budget item being assigned a 10-digit code is to include the state department, purpose and funding source.
12. Budget trailer bills can only be passed in conjunction with the Budget Bill.
13. A deficiency request is when an agency or department has an unanticipated increase in its costs (regardless of reason) that exceed the funding that was appropriated for the agency or department in the state budget. In these cases, the agency or department will request a deficiency appropriation in separate legislation.
14. Budget control language is language contained in the budget bill that provides conditions on the use of a specific appropriation contained in the budget.
15. Budget bills must be introduced by the budget committee chairs.
16. The Governor’s May Revise is the only means to change the January 10 budget proposal by the Administration.
17. The budget is required to be accompanied by a budget bill itemizing recommended expenditures.
18. The Legislature may control the submission, approval, and enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state agencies.
19. The federal and state governments use the same fiscal year.
20. All budget-related bills must be passed by the June 15 constitutional deadline.
21. The Governor must sign the Budget Bill by June 15 pursuant to the Constitution.
22. Appropriations bills can be acted upon prior to enactment of the Budget Bill.
23. All bills making appropriations from the General Fund require a 2/3 vote.
24. “Other bills providing for appropriations related to the budget bill” include budget bills junior and trailer bills.
25. The Governor has to propose a balanced budget, but the Legislature does not have to pass a balanced budget.

Answers

1. True
2. False. This was changed in 2010 by Prop. 25 that was adopted by California voters to make the budget bill and related bills subject only to a majority vote.
3. False, a trailer bill makes statutory changes to implement the budget bill.
4. False. Only the first two dates are in the Constitution, Article IV. The fiscal year is established in the Government Code.
5. True
6. False. A “deficiency” request is when an agency or department has an unanticipated increase in its costs (regardless of reason) that exceed the funding that was appropriated for the agency or department in the state budget. In these cases, the agency or department will likely request a deficiency appropriation in separate legislation.
7. False. Budget control language (BCL) is language contained in the budget bill that provides conditions on the use of a specific appropriation contained in the budget.
8. True
9. False. The estimate of revenues anticipated being received in the General Fund must be contained in the Budget Bill that is passed by the Legislature.
10. True.
11. True.
12. False. Budget trailer bills can pretty much be enacted any time after the budget bill has passed as long as there is a nominal appropriation in the bill and it is tied by language to the budget bill. And this can be done by a majority vote on each floor of the Assembly and Senate.
13. True.
14. True.
15. True. Under Article IV, Section 12(c)(2) of the state constitution, “the budget bill shall be introduced immediately in each house by the persons chairing the committees that consider the budget.”
16. False. “Finance letters” are revisions to the Budget Bill proposed by the Department of Finance.
17. True.
18. True.
19. False. The 12-month period on which the state budget is planned begins July 1 and ends on June 30 of the following year. The federal fiscal year begins October 1 and ends on September 30 of the following year.
20. False. The Legislature is only required to pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each year. Only the Budget Bill itself must be passed. Any budget bills junior or trailer bills can be passed after June 15.
21. False. The Governor is not required to sign the budget by June 15. The only requirement is for the Legislature to pass it by that date.
22. True, but only emergency bills recommended by the Governor or appropriations for the salaries and expenses of the Legislature. In such a case, the Governor will make a statement that he or she is recommending the bill as an emergency bill that should be considered prior to the enactment of the budget later in the session.
23. False. In general, all those types of bills must be passed by a 2/3 vote, except appropriations for the public schools and appropriations in the Budget Bill and in other bills providing for appropriations related to the budget bill.
24. True. These are only bills identified as related to the budget in the Budget Bill passed by the Legislature. The Budget Bill enacted each year has a section toward the end of the bill that identifies by number all of the budget-related bills for that year, including any budget bills junior and trailer bills.
25. False. The state Constitution specifies that the Legislature is prohibited from sending the Governor, and the Governor is prohibited from signing into law, a budget bill that is not balanced on paper.