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How to Follow A Budget Item Through the Process

Influencing/Tracking Budget Items

Thanks to modern technology it is relatively easy to follow the progress of a bill by using the web site for your legislature and calling up information on a bill. It is often available by topic, by legislative sponsor, or by the bill number listed in email bulletins sent out by various advocacy groups. It takes a while to get accustomed to the �code� used to explain where bills stand in the process, but that can be done (many state Capitols have a one-page explanation of the abbreviations they use).

Following the progress of a budget item is a different matter. The short answer is -- in most cases you can't. That doesn't mean you cannot influence legislative budget decisions; it only means that you are unlikely to know whether you have had an impact until key decisions are made public later in the Legislative Session.

The budget process is known; only the results are largely unknown � until the final budget is announced. What follows is a description of the process from one state; most states have a similar process (check the time-table for the different stages in your state).

• In mid-December the Governor releases his version of the budget. (Most Governors are required to submit a balanced budget; state constitutions vary as to requiring that the legislature pass a balanced budget.) A Governor proposes, but the legislature disposes.

• In the opening weeks of the Session, the different Fiscal Committees of the legislature (as well as some Policy Committees) hold sessions to review the Governor�s proposed budget and invite public comment on it.

• In the Spring (e.g., mid-March) there will be new Revenue Forecasts; legislators typically wait to see them before making final decisions about the budget.

• Soon after the Revenue Forecasts are available, one of the fiscal Committees (House and Senate alternate as to which goes first) will make public its version of the budget. Within a few days to a week, the other chamber�s fiscal Committee will make its version public. At this point there are three proposed budgets on the table.

Throughout this part of the process, legislators tend to say very little about the looming decisions on the budget. But they are thinking and talking about the many tradeoffs all the time � and that thinking/talking is influenced by what they are hearing from the voters back home. If calls and letters pour in -- opposed to, or in support of, a particular budget item -- legislators take note. The same is true of particular approaches to the budget itself (taxes/no taxes; program cuts/no program cuts; more roads/more transit, etc.).

Last week of Session a budget must be agreed to by both House and Senate, passed by them, and signed, vetoed, or partial-vetoed by the Governor.

Some Ways To Be Involved

Conversations with a variety of state legislative staff, and state legislators yields the following advice for citizens who wish to track - and influence - a budget item.

If there is something in the budget that you want to protect or change:

FIRST, try to get your item included in the Governor's proposed budget, since that often serves as a beginning blueprint for the legislature. In any case, as soon as the Governor's budget is released, contact your own Senator and Representatives and ask them to protect (or change) those items that you care about.

In states with very short legislative Sessions, there may not be time to get something into the budget process if it isn't already in the Governor�s proposed budget. The dollar amount is less important (that can be changed) than getting into the process.

SECOND, be sure the Chairs and Ranking Minority members of the relevant policy Committees are aware of your concern.

THIRD, be sure the Chairs and Ranking Minority members of the Budget-Writing Committees � often called Appropriations or Ways & Means � are aware of your concern.

FOURTH, as soon as the fiscal committees versions of the budget are available, be vocal about their contents. (If details leak out before official publication, comment.) If possible, your advocacy group or coalition could hold a media event to react to the legislators� proposed budgets.

FIFTH, try and find a champion for your issue, someone who sits on a fiscal Committee (e.g., Appropriations or Ways & Means). Work with them throughout the process. Send them good information. And get your fellow citizens � preferably from their home districts - involved.

The budget is the strongest reflection of our priorities and values. It conveys a sense of activities and people we care enough about to have a claim on our public funds. It is directly concerned with building and maintaining community that notion of disparate people coming together with a common purpose, a common unity. If ever there were reason for citizens to speak up, the budget is it.