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2004 SESSION

041441396
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2
Offered January 14, 2004
Expressing the sense of the Virginia House of Delegates that the Governor resubmit a Budget Bill that uses existing fiscal resources without incorporating tax increases.
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Patrons-- Marshall, R.G., Cole and Rapp
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has been a leader among states in developing and implementing modern budget and financial management practices; and

WHEREAS, in 1918, the General Assembly enacted the Executive Budget Act, which made the Governor the chief budget officer of the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, in 1975, the General Assembly enacted legislation to strengthen the Executive Budget process and to enhance the quality of information that the Governor is required to submit to the General Assembly in order to allow it to discharge its constitutional responsibility to appropriate all funds collected by the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Budget process was intended to assure the General Assembly of the necessary information, in a timely manner, from all agencies of state government to allow spending priorities to be set, evaluate requests for new program spending, identify opportunities to reduce waste and duplication, and determine the amount of state revenues likely to be available to fund state spending priorities during the ensuing biennium; and

WHEREAS, over the years since the Executive Budget process was established, the General Assembly has consistently determined that such a process is preferable to a Legislative Budget process, but that the Executive Budget process cannot satisfy the requirements of the General Assembly in the exercise of its constitutional responsibility if the Governor fails to provide the information and analysis specified by the General Assembly in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Budget process continues to be preferable to a Legislative Budget process only if the Governor is willing to satisfy the informational requirements of the General Assembly in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, in December 2003, the Governor failed to submit to members of the General Assembly, in a timely manner, the financial information required by § 2.2-1503 of the Code of Virginia, which mandates the submission of an estimate of anticipated state revenues for the ensuing six years by December 15, and

WHEREAS, without prior consultation with the General Assembly, the Governor has submitted a Budget Bill on December 17, 2003, for the 2004-2006 biennium that is predicated on the collection of more than $1 billion in additional revenues that have not been authorized by law; and

WHEREAS, the Governor has failed to provide information and analysis requested by the General Assembly that would demonstrate the probable impact on the Commonwealth's economy and taxpayer behavior of the Governor's recommended amendments to state tax law; and

WHEREAS, the General Assembly cannot properly discharge its constitutional responsibility to appropriate funds for the 2004-2006 biennium according to its traditional schedule because the Governor has failed to provide timely information as required by the Code of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's failure to consult with the General Assembly in a timely manner, and to provide information to it that is essential to the discharge of its constitutional responsibility, upsets the balance and cooperative linkage that must exist between the Executive and Legislative branches of state government; and

WHEREAS, at a time when the Commonwealth's credit rating is under review by credit rating agencies, the Governor has created unnecessary delays and conflict as the General Assembly commences the 2004 Session and deliberations on the Appropriation Act for the 2004-2006 biennium; and

WHEREAS, the Governor has jeopardized the Commonwealth's credit rating and its ability to manage public funds in the best interest of the people of Virginia by his failure to consult with the General Assembly in a timely manner, to provide information to the General Assembly as the Code of Virginia requires, and to respond to reasonable informational requests by its members for economic and financial analysis justifying the Governor's estimate of anticipated general fund revenues for the prospective six year period; and

WHEREAS, the Governor of Virginia is required by § 2.2-1503 to submit by December of every odd-numbered year a projection of revenues to be collected by the Commonwealth for the ensuing six years; and

WHEREAS, the Governor failed to submit such a report in 2003 in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, until November 24, 2003, the Governor declined repeated requests to declare whether or not he would propose a tax increase, what type of tax would be proposed, and the amount of additional taxes that would be collected; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's refusal to provide the General Assembly with notice until November 24, 2003, that he would take the unprecedented step, at odds with the traditions of past Governors, of submitting to the General Assembly a budget with a billion dollar tax increase as part of the budget assumptions; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Governor is respectively requested to resubmit the Budget Bill for the 2004-2006 biennium utilizing existing fiscal resources without incorporating tax increases as part of his budget assumptions.