Joint legislative budget plan proposed

Released by Pro Tem McGuire and Speaker Rivas today

The leaders of the Senate and Assembly released a proposed joint legislative budget plan today in conjunction with scheduled budget committee hearings on the proposal. Short summaries of the proposal are on the Assembly and Senate budget committee websites here and here. Committee hearing documents include many more details and have been posted on the two committees’ websites: here and here.

The Legislature must pass a balanced annual budget bill on or before Saturday, June 15. The Governor will have until no later than Thursday, June 27, to sign that bill. Trailer bills also will emerge in the coming weeks to implement statutory changes related to the budget; historically, most will have been posted in some form for some time at the Department of Finance trailer bill website.

The June 15 budget bill—often including the Legislature’s budget plan if a prior agreement is not reached between the Legislature and the Governor—is not a “placeholder budget.” Historically, the June 15 budget deadline was developed to empower legislators to stand up for their principles in budget negotiations with the executive branch.