00 HOUSE BILL NO. 129                                                                                                      
01 "An Act relating to requests for supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal                                     
02 year."                                                                                                                  
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1.  FINDINGS.  (a)  The legislature makes annual appropriations for the cost of                            
05 operation of state government for the upcoming fiscal year based on estimates and program                               
06 plans presented by the administration.  During the course of the fiscal year program plans                              
07 change and estimates must be revised as additional information becomes available.  This                                 
08 frequently leads to appropriation shortfalls resulting in supplemental requests for additional                          
09 funding being made of the legislature.                                                                                  
10  (b)  At the time the legislature convenes, the fiscal year is more than half over.                                     
11 Supplementals approved by the administration are incorporated into the operating plan of the                            
12 agency, and a dependency on the receipt of additional funding from the legislature is built into                        
13 the program plans.                                                                                                      
14  (c)  It is the legislature's constitutional authority to appropriate funds.  If the legislature                        
01 chooses to exercise this authority through the denial of additional funding, the decision must                          
02 be made as early as possible in order for the program managers to revise their operating plans                          
03 to accommodate less funding.                                                                                            
04  (d)  The legislature finds that the statutory deadline for the submission to the                                       
05 legislature of supplemental funding requests needs to be as early as is practicable to facilitate                       
06 the legislative review and decision making process.                                                                     
07    * Sec. 2.  AS 37.07.070 is amended to read:                                                                          
08  Sec. 37.07.070.  LEGISLATIVE REVIEW.  The legislature shall consider the                                              
09 governor's proposed comprehensive operating and capital improvements programs and                                       
10 financial plans, evaluate alternatives to the plans, make program selections among the                                  
11 various alternatives and determine, subject to available revenues, the level of funding                               
12 required to support authorized state services.  The operating and capital budgets of                                    
13 each agency shall be separately reviewed.  During each regular session of the                                           
14 legislature, legislative review of the governor's supplemental appropriation bills and                                  
15 the governor's budget amendments shall be governed by the following time limits:                                        
16   (1)  Requests by the governor for supplemental appropriations for state                                              
17 agency operating and capital budgets for the current fiscal year may be introduced by                                   
18 the rules committee only through the 10th [30TH] legislative day.                                                     
19   (2)  Requests by the governor for budget amendments to state agency                                                  
20 budgets for the budget fiscal year may be received and reviewed by the finance                                          
21 committees only through the 60th legislative day.