Essay Sample on the Process of the Budget in the Texas State

Planning and proposal

The legislative budget board and the office of the governor issues instructions for developing the strategic plans for the spring preceding a legislative session. The instructions provide a broad mission statement that will identify the main principles of the state government. Furthermore, it provides the specific goals and benchmarks for the individual state programs and services. After the instructions are received by the departments and the agencies, strategic plans are then developed. The strategic plans should be of long terms plans that will identify the population and states goals, and the description of the means at which these goals could be achieved. After the strategic plan has been developed, it is then submitted to the legislative budget board or the Governors's office of the budget planning and the policy.

Around the same period that the strategic plans are developed the LBB send the instructions to the Legislative Appropriation Requests. These instruction are to be followed by different agencies and then GOBPP, and the LBB also holds hearings with the various agencies, this is to review its drafts and its strategic plans.

Legislative action

This process involves most works in a short period. The first process includes the filling of the appropriations bills in both the legislature houses which allows both houses to work simultaneously on the bill. Shortly after the beginning of the regular session, the comptroller is often required to provide the legislature with the biennial revenue estimate; this is to ensure that there is no violation of the constitution by the legislature. The hearing of statements by both the housing committee and senate committee on finance on appropriations, and working separately to hear testimonies from the states agencies and the other personnel on the budget. The members of both the houses merge to form the conference committee, the aim of the committee is to address the issues that differ between both the houses. Moreover, if the conference committee resolves the differences between the houses the bill is then returned to the specific houses for a final up or down vote.

Review and approval

When the appropriation bill is passed, the bill is sent to the comptroller for certification this is because Texas States Constitution requires the comptroller's to certify if the there is enough revenue to cover the appropriation that was made by the legislature. Moreover, if it is not sufficient then the appropriation then cuts need to be made. Moreover, if the appropriation bill is certified by the comptroller, it then goes to the governor to be signed. Though the constitution of Texas gives the governor line-item veto authority which gives the governor the power to veto individual items of the appropriations bills. If the legislature is still in session if the power was exercised. It can be overridden by any of the vetoed line-item by the two third of the majority votes from each house.

Implementation of budget

After the bill is certified by the comptroller and then signed by the governor, the bill will guide the spending of the state for the next two years. Though the budget will not be recorded in Texas statutes or the codes which have the force of law. The agencies are bounded by it and their compliance are monitored by the Legislative Budget Board, but the wiggle room is between the governor and the LBB acting together, and they are empowered with the budget execution authority allowing them to shift funds to different agencies and also from one agency to the other if a problem arises at an extended period if the legislature is not in session

The power of the governor and the legislative budget board

The legislative budget board of Texas was created in 1949, for the primary purpose was to recommend legislative appropriations for all the agencies of the government of the state. The board composes of lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, the chair of the Senate committee on the finance, the house committee on the appreciations, and the house committee on the means and ways. The board employs staffs which include the analysts working with and monitoring the state agencies. The main responsibilities of the agency are to adopt the constitutional spending limits; they also prepare the agency performance reports and a general appropriations bills. They also review, guide, and finalize the strategic plans of the agency by producing a fiscal note that identifies the likely cost of the proposed legislations. The legislative budget board furthermore takes the necessary actions to transfer funds between different purpose within the agency, or they also transfer fund between the different bodies, this process is also known as budget execution actions.

The office of the governor if fully involved in every budget process from the start of the budget process till budget execution. The two key players during the budget process and these are the Governor and the Governor of the legislative budget board. The difference between them the governor is only involved in the budget process, and they only begin with the strategic strategies

The governor and LBB are jointly involved with develop the goals for the state. Then these goals are provided to every state agency for use and develop their strategic plans. Then the governor is then required to compile a biennial appropriation of the budget, which is then delivered to the legislature within the first six days. The governor is then authorized to develop a general appropriation bill that will be offered to the legislature within 30 days of legislative session. The governors budget serves as the guiding policy statements while the LBBs bill is used as the appropriations bill. Moreover, if the legislature passes the appropriation bill the bill is then certified by the comptroller, and then the governor approves the bill. The governor can exercise veto specific items by using the line-item veto power in the general appropriations bills. Moreover, if the budget takes effect the governors office and the legislative budget board jointly exercises their budget execution authority to approve and transfer money from one program to the other.

Conclusion

Texas State uses the biennial budget system in its budget. The process of the budget takes more than two years, and the budget involves all the agencies and department, as well as the other involved parties, enabled the budget to be easily managed. Moreover, the first of the two process of budget making process is involving and the most detailed and requires hard works for the whole process. Moreover, the final processes are important since they provide the final check and any continuous adjustment but they involve less detailed planning and analysis.