SUBPART B. OPERATING BUDGET ENACTMENT

§51. General Appropriation Bill; other appropriation bills

            A.(1) The governor shall cause a General Appropriation Bill for the ordinary operating expenses of government to be introduced which shall be in conformity with the recommendations for appropriations contained in the budget estimate as provided by Article VII, Section 11(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana.

            (2) The General Appropriation Bill and other appropriation bills shall not appropriate any funds, as defined in Article VII, Section 10(J) of the Constitution of Louisiana, which are not part of the official forecast except as provided for in R.S. 39:54(A)(2). The General Appropriation Bill and other appropriation bills for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 and each fiscal year thereafter shall include a listing of all incentive expenditure programs by department, including the forecasted amount of each incentive expenditure as adopted for the current fiscal year by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The incentive expenditure programs shall be stated as a separate description in the program activities of the respective department, agency, or authority of the state which administers an incentive expenditure program. Such incentive expenditure programs shall not be included as, nor counted towards, the operating expenses of the relevant department, agency, or authority.

            (3) In the event that the Legislative Fiscal Office reports that the budget estimate as provided by Article VII, Section 11(A) of the Constitution of Louisiana provides for appropriations out of the state general fund and dedicated funds for the ensuing fiscal year for health care as contained in Schedule 09, Louisiana Department of Health, and for higher education as contained in Schedule 19, Higher Education and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Health Care Services Division, in amounts less than the appropriations for either purpose as contained for the same schedules in the existing operating budget for the current fiscal year as of the day the executive budget is submitted to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, the governor shall cause a General Appropriation Bill to be introduced as provided by Article VII, Section 11(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana which shall provide separate recommendations for discretionary and nondiscretionary expenditures and the means of financing such expenditures which are subject to appropriation.

            (4) The General Appropriation Bill and the bill appropriating funds for ancillary expenses of state government shall each be submitted for introduction no later than fourteen days after submission of the executive budget to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget as required by R.S. 39:37.

            B. The General Appropriation Bill and the bill appropriating funds for ancillary expenses of state government shall include for each program, department, and budget unit, the number of authorized positions and the existing operating budget for a date certain to be established by the budget office for the current fiscal year adjacent to the number of authorized positions and the appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year.

            C. The General Appropriation Bill shall reflect specific appropriations for each agency and its programs and shall include the allocation of expenditures, itemized by category for each agency, as recommended for the existing operating budget and for the ensuing fiscal year in the supporting document. The provisions of this Subsection regarding the allocation of expenditures shall not apply to any agency or program in Schedule 19, Higher Education, or Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Health Care Services Division.

            D. The bill appropriating funds for the expenses of the legislature and the bill appropriating funds for the expenses of the judiciary shall be submitted by the legislature and the judiciary, respectively, for introduction no later than forty-five days prior to each regular session of the legislature, except that during the first year of each term they shall be submitted no later than thirty days prior to the regular session of the legislature. The bill appropriating funds for the expenses of the legislature and the bill appropriating funds for the expenses of the judiciary shall include the existing operating budget for the current fiscal year adjacent to the appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year.

            E. The Five Year Estimated Revenue Loss Chart from the most recent Tax Exemption Budget prepared by the Department of Revenue shall be an appendix to the General Appropriation Bill. The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget shall annually review and evaluate the Five Year Estimated Revenue Loss Chart.

            F. Any appropriation bill in which a reduction in an appropriation is authorized shall designate the reduction by placing parenthesis around the amount.

            G. Contributions towards the unfunded accrued liability of the state public retirement systems existing as of June 30, 1988, for each agency shall be contained in an appendix to the General Appropriation Bill.

            Acts 1989, No. 836, §1, eff. July 1, 1989; Acts 1997, No. 1403, §2, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 1997, No. 1465, §2, eff. July 15, 1997; Acts 2003, No. 1029, §1; Acts 2008, No. 735, §1; Acts 2010, No. 966, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2011; Acts 2010, No. 969, §1; Acts 2013, No. 419, §1, eff. July 1, 2013; Acts 2013, No. 424, §2; Acts 2014, No. 797, §1, eff. July 1, 2014; Acts 2017, No. 401, §1, eff. July 1, 2017; Acts 2017, No. 416, §1; Acts 2020, No. 213, §1, eff. July 1, 2020.