86R4377 SRA-D
 
  By: Paxton S.B. No. 861
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a zero-based budget legislative appropriations request
  process.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 322, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Section 322.0071 to read as follows:
         Sec. 322.0071.  REPORT ON ZERO-BASED BUDGET LEGISLATIVE
  APPROPRIATIONS REQUESTS. (a) In each even-numbered year, the
  board shall prepare a report that includes each zero-based budget
  legislative appropriations request form submitted to the board in
  that year by a state agency, institution, or other entity required
  to submit the form under Section 401.0422. The report must include
  the information described by Sections 401.0422(d)(1) and (2) for
  each agency, institution, or entity.
         (b)  Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
  the board shall:
               (1)  deliver the report required under Subsection (a)
  to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and each member of the
  legislature; and
               (2)  publish the report on the board's Internet website
  in the manner provided by Section 322.0081.
         SECTION 2.  Section 322.008, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
         (b-1)  The general appropriations bill may include as an
  informational item information from a zero-based budget
  legislative appropriations request form submitted to the board by a
  state agency, institution, or other entity as required under
  Section 401.0422.
         SECTION 3.  Section 401.042, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
         (a-1)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governor shall
  design and prepare a zero-based budget legislative appropriations
  request form on which a state agency, institution, or other entity
  required to submit a zero-based budget legislative appropriations
  request under Section 401.0422 must prepare its request. The form
  must be designed to allow the agency, institution, or entity to
  provide the information required under Section 401.0421.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter C, Chapter 401, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Sections 401.0421 and 401.0422 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 401.0421.  CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION OF ZERO-BASED
  BUDGET LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST FORM. (a) A state
  agency, institution, or other entity submitting legislative
  appropriation requests on the zero-based budget legislative
  appropriations request form as required by Section 401.042(b) must:
               (1)  include on the form a citation to:
                     (A)  the agency's, institution's, or entity's
  authority under the Texas Constitution to operate, if applicable;
  and
                     (B)  the law specifying the agency's,
  institution's, or entity's primary purpose or mission; and
               (2)  organize the agency's, institution's, or entity's
  requests for legislative appropriations by program or activity.
         (b)  For each specific program or activity administered by a
  state agency, institution, or other entity for which the agency,
  institution, or entity is making a legislative appropriation
  request on the zero-based budget legislative appropriations
  request form, the agency, institution, or entity must include:
               (1)  a line item that describes the program or activity
  and cites the law that authorizes or requires the program or
  activity;
               (2)  the appropriation made for the program or activity
  for the state fiscal biennium preceding the state fiscal biennium
  for which the requested appropriation is made;
               (3)  the amount of the requested appropriation with a
  succinct notation justifying the amount;
               (4)  a statement that specifies whether the requested
  appropriation for the program or activity is from nondedicated
  money in the general revenue fund, dedicated money in the general
  revenue fund, federal money, or another source; and
               (5)  the number of full-time equivalent employees
  authorized for the program or activity for the state fiscal
  biennium preceding the state fiscal biennium for which the
  requested appropriation is made and the number of full-time
  equivalent employees for the biennium that would be authorized
  under the requested appropriation.
         Sec. 401.0422.  ZERO-BASED BUDGET LEGISLATIVE
  APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST PROCESS. (a) The governor shall:
               (1)  identify each state agency, institution, or other
  entity that makes legislative appropriations requests;
               (2)  develop a schedule under which each identified
  agency, institution, or other entity is required to use the
  zero-based budget legislative appropriations request process
  described by this section for one state fiscal biennium out of each
  of the four consecutive state fiscal bienniums, subject to
  Subsection (c); and
               (3)  periodically revise the schedule required by
  Subdivision (2) to account for the creation or abolition of state
  agencies, institutions, and other entities.
         (b)  Not later than October 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
  governor shall notify in writing:
               (1)  each state agency, institution, or other entity
  that is, according to the schedule developed under Subsection (a),
  required to use a zero-based budget legislative appropriations
  request process for the legislative appropriations request for the
  succeeding state fiscal biennium of that requirement; and
               (2)  the Legislative Budget Board of all state
  agencies, institutions, and other entities that, according to the
  schedule developed under Subsection (a), are required to use the
  zero-based budget legislative appropriations request process for
  the legislative appropriations request for the succeeding state
  fiscal biennium.
         (c)  The governor may require a state agency, institution, or
  other entity to use a zero-based budget legislative appropriations
  request process for a state fiscal biennium for which a budget
  deficit is projected regardless of whether the agency, institution,
  or entity is required to use that process in accordance with the
  schedule developed under Subsection (a).  If the governor requires
  a zero-based budget legislative appropriations request process
  under this subsection, the governor shall notify each state agency,
  institution, or entity in writing of the requirement not later than
  March 1 of the year preceding the state fiscal biennium for which
  the legislative appropriations requests will be made.
         (d)  A state agency, institution, or other entity required to
  use a zero-based budget legislative appropriations request process
  under Subsection (a) or (c) shall prepare its legislative
  appropriations request in the manner and with the content required
  by Section 401.0421 and submit the request to the governor and the
  Legislative Budget Board.  The agency, institution, or entity shall
  also include in the request:
               (1)  for each line item:
                     (A)  a statement of the purpose of the program or
  activity represented by the line item;
                     (B)  a statement of the goals of the administering
  organizational unit of the agency, institution, or entity with
  respect to the program or activity represented by the line item;
                     (C)  an estimate of the cost of any adverse
  effects that reasonably may be anticipated to result if the program
  or activity represented by the line item were discontinued and a
  description of the methods by which the cost was estimated;
                     (D)  an itemized account of expenditures required
  to maintain the minimum level of service required by law to be
  provided through the program or activity represented by the line
  item and a succinct statement of the quantity and quality of
  services provided at that minimum level; and
                     (E)  an itemized account of expenditures required
  to maintain the current level of service provided through the
  program or activity represented by the line item and a succinct
  statement of the quantity and quality of services provided at the
  current level; and
               (2)  a ranking of the programs and activities
  represented by the line items representing programs and activities
  administered by the state agency, institution, or entity that
  reflects the relative importance of each program and activity to
  the overall goals and purposes of the agency, institution, or
  entity, assuming the current level of service provided through the
  program or activity.
         SECTION 5.  Section 552.106, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
         (c)  A draft or working paper involved in the preparation of
  a zero-based budget legislative appropriations request under
  Section 401.0422 is exempted from the requirements of Section
  552.021.
         SECTION 6.  (a) Not later than March 1, 2020, the governor
  shall develop the initial schedule required by Section 401.0422(a),
  Government Code, as added by this Act, and provide the initial
  notice required by Section 401.0422(b), Government Code, as added
  by this Act.
         (b)  Section 401.0421, Government Code, as added by this Act,
  and the zero-based budget legislative appropriations request
  process required by Section 401.0422, Government Code, as added by
  this Act, apply beginning with legislative appropriations requests
  made for the 2022-2023 state fiscal biennium.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.