CHAPTER 81
BOARD OF BUDGET DIRECTORS
AN ACT to create a Board of Budget Directors, define their duties and to provide for the preparation and review of estimates for expenditures and revenue, to establish a budget system for all State departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other agencies receiving or asking financial aid from the State of Delaware, and to define the duties of the Governor in connection therewith.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. There is hereby created a Board of Budget Directors, hereinafter designated as the Board, which shall consist of three members, appointed by the Governor, one Three members of whom shall be the Secretary of State. The Board shall serve during the term of the Governor by whom they are appointed, or during the pleasure of the Governor. After their appointment the Board shall organize by the selection Organization of such officers as they may deem necessary.
Section 2. That on or before the fifteenth day of September, biennially, in the year which next precedes the convening of the General Assembly, each of the several State departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other agencies receiving or asking financial aid from the State of Delaware, shall report to the said Board, on official estimate blanks furnished for such purpose, an estimate in itemized form showing the amount needed for each fiscal year of the ensuing biennial period beginning with the first day of July next thereafter. Any organization, body, committee or. person intending to request an appropriation from the General Assembly for any particular object or purpose, or for any expenditure, shall likewise present such a request to the Board, on official estimate blanks furnished for such, purpose, on or before the fifteenth day of September in the year which next precedes the convening of the General Assembly. In case of any organization, body or committee making such request, the request shall be made by some person duly authorized therefor, and shall be sworn to by the person making the same.
Section 3. On or before August first, biennially, in the year next preceding the convening of the General Assembly, the official estimate blanks, which must be used in making these reports shall be furnished by the Board to each of the several State departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other agencies receiving or asking financial aid from the State of Delaware. These blanks shall be uniform and shall clearly designate the kind of information to be given thereon. They shall provide for an itemized statement of the amount of money considered necessary for the proper maintenance, extension or improvement of the reporting department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution or other agency, during each of the two fiscal years next ensuing beginning with the first day of July next thereafter ; and the actual revenues and expenses for the last two prior fiscal years of such reporting bodies ; and the amounts by which the estimates for each of the two fiscal years of the succeeding biennial period are larger or smaller than the corresponding items of expenditures for each of the two prior years, with full explanation of such changes in the estimates, provided, however, that all the salaries fixed by law shall be included without change in the itemized statement. They shall contain such other information and provide for such classification of accounts as may be justified by modern accounting practices and deemed necessary by the Board to fully and clearly explain the needs and purposes of any estimated expenditure.
Section 4. On or before the fifteenth day of September, biennially, in the year next preceding the convening of the General Assembly, the Auditor of Accounts shall furnish the Board the following statements, classified and itemized in strict accordance with the budget classifications adopted by said Board ;
(1) A statement showing the balance standing to the credit of the several appropriations for each department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution or other agency of the State at the end of the last preceding fiscal year.
(2) A statement showing the monthly expenditures and revenues from each appropriation account, and the total monthly expenditures and revenues from all the appropriation accounts, including special and all other appropriations, in the twelve months of the last preceding fiscal year.
(3) A statement showing the annual expenditures in each appropriation account, and the revenues from all sources, including expenditures and revenues from special and all other appropriations, for each fiscal year of the preceding biennial period, with a separate column showing any increase or decrease for each item.
(4) An itemized and complete financial balance sheet of the State at the close of the last preceding fiscal year ending June 30.
(5) Such other statements as the Board shall request.
Section 5. Any department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution or other agency requesting or receiving financial aid from the State, upon request, shall immediately furnish to the Board, in such form as it may require any information desired by it in relation to their respective affairs or activities.
Section 6. On or before November fifteenth, biennially, in the year next preceding the convening of the General Assembly, the Auditor of Accounts shall furnish the Board a statement of the actual expenses of the last preceding legislative session. On or before November fifteenth, biennially, in the year next preceding the convening of the General Assembly, estimates of the financial needs of the State Judiciary for each of the two fiscal years of the ensuing furnished by biennial period, shall be furnished to the said Board by Supreme the Clerk of the Supreme Court, and certified by him. These estimates shall include without change, salaries of the What State Judiciary as fixed by law; the estimates of other requirements for the State Judiciary for the ensuing biennial contain period shall be included as designated to the said Clerk by Estimates of the Chancellor or the Chief Justice. All of the data relative to the legislative branch of the Government and the branch and State Judiciary State Judiciary transmitted to the Board under this section shall be for its information and guidance in estimating the total financial needs of the State for the ensuing biennial period; but none of these estimates shall be subject to revision or review by the Board and must be included in the budget as prepared by it.
Section 7. The Board shall provide, by giving of such Hearings on notice as it may deem necessary, for public hearings on any and all estimates to be included in the budget, which hearings shall be held beginning not later than November fifteenth in the year next preceding the convening of the General Assembly. These hearings shall be open to the pub- Open to public lie and to the press, and any citizens or authorized representatives of any organization, or group of citizens, may attend these hearings and be heard upon any subject matter properly in review. The head, or authorized representative, of any State department, bureau, division, office, board, commission, institution, or other agency of the State, receiving or asking financial aid may attend and be heard in explanation of any request for financial aid contained in any estimate submitted to the Board. In the years of the gubernatorial election, the Governor-elect may, and is hereby authorized and empowered to sit at these hearings and to ask such questions and require such information upon the estimates under review and revision as he may deem fit. The Governor-elect may also prepare a statement of any recommendation or suggestions in connection with the dons proposed budget, and such statement shall be presented to the General Assembly simultaneously with the presentation of the budget bill.
Section 8. On or before the fifteenth day of December immediately preceding the convening of the General Assembly, the Board must have completed its review and revision of the estimates of all the departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other agencies of the State asking or receiving financial aid. The Board shall have the power, in making such review, to revise, by increasing or decreasing, any estimate submitted to it, except those of the Judiciary and the General Assembly, but where such revision is made it must be indicated in its report to the Governor, as hereinafter provided, together with the reasons for its revision.
Section 9. Upon the completion of said review and revision of estimates of all the departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions, and other agencies of the State asking or receiving financial aid, as herein provided, the Board shall submit to the Governor an itemized plan for the proposed expenditures of each State department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution, or other agency of the State, classified by function, character and object and of the estimated revenues and expenditures, for each fiscal year in the ensuing biennial period, beginning with the first day of July thereafter. Opposite each item of the proposed expenditures the budget shall show, in separate parallel columns, the amounts appropriated for each of the fiscal years of the last biennial period, together with any increase or decrease.
Accompanying the report submitted to the Governor, Budget to the proposed budget as prepared by the Board shall include –
(1) A statement of the revenues and expenditures for each of the two fiscal years of the preceding biennial period, classified and itemized in accordance with the official budget classification.
(2) True copies of all estimates submitted to the Board under provisions of Section 1 of this Act.
(3) A statement showing amount of State funds expended each fiscal year in the preceding biennial period under the general classifications of public highways, free public schools, charitable and benevolent institutions and organizations, agriculture and conservation, public health and other public welfare work, salaries and wages of State officers and employees, together with number of such officers and employees.
(4) A statement of the condition of the several funds of the State.
(5) A statement of the State debt with dates of maturity, interest due, and condition of sinking fund, together with any increase or decrease in State debt and sinking fund during the preceding biennial period.
(6) A statement of the classified sources of State taxes and other State revenues, together with total amount of revenue derived from each source during the preceding biennial period.
(7) A statement setting forth the total funds required each year to meet the budget for the ensuing biennial period, together with any proposed plan for financing these requirements and measures, if any, which the Governor may deem necessary or advisable in relation to State Revenue.
(8) Such other statements or data as the Governor may think are necessary for a thorough understanding of the State's financial condition and requirements.
Section 10. The Governor upon receipt of the report change report of said Board may make such changes in the report as he may deem necessary or desirable in accordance with his own best judgment and conclusion and shall submit the budget report as prepared by him based upon the report of said Board, to each House of the General Assembly, within five days after days after the organization of both Houses, and at the same time he submits the proposed budget, he shall submit copies of a tentative bill for all proposed appropriations for the budget, clearly itemized and properly classified for each fiscal year in the ensuing biennial period. This bill shall be known as "The Budget Appropriation Bill."
The budget itself shall be in such form that it can readily be analyzed. "The Budget Appropriation Bill," together with the Governor's Message, and all data accompanying it, shall be a public document and shall be printed as soon as presented, and copies thereof shall be furnished to each member of the General Assembly, to each department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution and other State agencies, to all of the newspapers published in the State of Delaware, and it shall be given such other publicity as the Governor shall deem proper.
Section 11. The standing committees of each House in charge of "The Budget Appropriation Bill" shall sit jointly in open session while considering the budget and "The Budget Appropriation Bill" and they shall begin such joint meetings within five days after the budget and "The Budget Appropriation Bill" have been submitted to the General Assembly by the Governor. This joint committee may cause the attendance of heads or responsible representatives of the departments, bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, com- missions, institutions and other agencies of the State asking for financial aid, and compel the furnishing of such information and the answering of such questions as the joint committee shall require; and to these sessions all persons interested in the estimates under consideration, shall be ad- mitted with the right to be heard. The Governor, or his Governor and representative, and the Governor-elect shall have the right to sit at these public hearings and be heard on all matters coming before the joint committee.
Section 12. The General Assembly may increase, decrease or eliminate items in "The Budget Appropriation Bill" General may in any way that is not contrary to the Constitution of the State of Delaware, except as hereinafter provided; but neither House shall consider further or special appropriations, except in case of emergency, which fact shall be clearly stated in the appropriation bill therefor, until "The Budget Appropriation Bill" shall have been finally acted upon by both Houses. Provided, however; no items providing for appropriations for payment of interest or principal due on State debt shall be decreased or eliminated; the total budget appropriation items may not be increased in the aggregate to a point where they would exceed the State revenue from all sources as estimated in the budget.
Section 13. Any further or special appropriation shall Supplementary be known as "Supplementary Appropriations." Every such appropriation shall be embodied in a separate bill limited to some single work, object or purpose therein stated, and called herein a "Supplementary Appropriation Bill." Each Supplementary Appropriation Bill, shall, by its provisions, provide designate source of or designate the source from which the money therein appropriated is to be derived. No Supplementary Appropriation Bill shall be passed, if when added to the appropriations already authorized, the aggregate appropriations exceed in not passed amount the state revenues from all sources for the ensuing biennial period as set forth in the budget.
Section 14. The Governor may, before final action thereon by the General Assembly, amend or supplement the Budget Bill to correct an error or oversight or in case of an emergency, by delivering such an amendment or supplement to both Houses; said amendment or supplement shall thereby become a part of "The Budget Appropriation Bill" as an addition to the items of said Bill, or as a modification or substitution for any item of said Bill, such amendment or supplement may affect.
Section 15. If "The Budget Appropriation Bill" has not been finally acted upon before the fiftieth legislative day of the legislative session, it shall then be considered to the exclusion of all other bills until it is finally disposed of.
Section 16. Each State department, bureau, division, officers, board, commission, institution or other agency receiving appropriations from the State shall keep a detailed account of all receipts and expenditures under such appropriate headings, classifications and arrangements as may be prescribed by the said Board and used in the budget estimates, and all bills, statements, letters, vouchers and documents pertaining to these receipts and disbursements, shall be preserved and systematically filed by said departments and agencies.
Section 17. Each State department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution and other agency receiving an appropriation from the State shall immediately, upon the appropriation for its support being made, proceed to allot the appropriations so granted for the purposes set forth in the budget, but transfers of items in the allotments may be made upon written request by the spending agency to the Governor, State Treasurer and Auditor of Accounts, provided a majority of these three agree to the transfer of the item requested, and the request and their action is made a matter of record with the Auditor of Accounts.
Section 18. No money shall be drawn by any State department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution or other agency from any fund in the State Treasury in excess of the amount appropriated by the General Assembly to said department, bureau, division, officer, board, commission, institution or other agency.
Section 19. The fiscal year for all State departments, Fiscal year bureaus, divisions, officers, boards, commissions, institutions and other agencies of the State of Delaware shall begin on July first in each calendar year, and end on June thirtieth of the succeeding calendar year.
Section 20. The Board may call upon any other State officer for such assistance as it may require, and may employ such special help as it may require to carry out the provisions of this Act and shall fix the compensation of such persons as it may employ to be paid out of such fund as the General Assembly may appropriate for that purpose.
Section 21. Any and all Acts or parts of Act inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.
Section 22. This Act shall be liberally construed, and Act liberally if any section thereof shall be declared unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect any other section thereof.
Approved April 25, 1931.