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2004 SESSION


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2
Requesting the Governors of the Commonwealth to submit a Budget Bill utilizing existing fiscal resources without incorporating a general tax increase.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 28, 2004

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 General Assembly is not provided the specific information and analysis it requires in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Budget process continues to be preferable to a Legislative Budget process as long as the Executive branch provides the requisite information and analysis to the General Assembly in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, a Budget Bill should not be submitted to the General Assembly that is predicated on increasing general tax revenues that have not been authorized by law; and

WHEREAS, when the General Assembly does not receive the information and analysis that would demonstrate the probable impact of a Governor's recommended amendments to state tax law on the Commonwealth's economy and taxpayer behavior that it needs for its deliberations; and

WHEREAS, without the information from the Executive branch that is required by the Code of Virginia, the General Assembly cannot properly discharge its constitutional responsibility to appropriate funds according to its traditional schedule; and

WHEREAS, § 2.2-1503 of the Code requires that the Governor of Virginia submit a projection of revenues to be collected by the Commonwealth for the ensuing six years to the General Assembly by December of every odd-numbered year; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Governors of the Commonwealth be requested to submit a Budget Bill utilizing existing fiscal resources without incorporating a general tax increase as part of the budget assumptions; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to His Excellency, the Governor of Virginia, so that he may be apprised of the sense of the House of Delegates in this matter.