SB 185 - This act requires audio and video feeds of all committee hearings on appropriations bills to be made available on the websites of the General Assembly and the chamber holding the hearing. Currently, fiscal notes accompanying legislation must project the cost of the bill over the next two years. This act requires a projection over the next five years or the period of time over which the bill is being phased in if such period is more than five years. The Oversight Division of the Committee on Legislative Research is also required to prepare an annual report detailing the cost to continue the same level of services of the current fiscal year into the next fiscal year.
The Office of Administration is required to produce an annual tax expenditure report. This act requires the report to be made available to the public and in a format that is easy to understand.
This act creates the Consensus Revenue Estimate Committee which will create a consensus revenue estimate to be used in appropriations bills. The committee will be comprised of members of the General Assembly, executive department, and economists from several institutions around the state. The budgets produced by the Governor and the General Assembly must be based upon the committees consensus revenue estimate formulated by the committee.
The provisions relating to fiscal notes are similar to SB 102 (2015) and SB 644 (2014).
MIKE HAMMANN