An Act To Change the Schedule for the Beginning of the Biennial Budget Cycle
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0080
Committee: Appropriations and Financial Affairs
Sponsors: COTTA, KATZ, AYOTTE, BOLAND, CAREY, DION, HARVELL, HAYES, KESCHL, SANBORN
Amends: 5 MRSA §1665, 5 MRSA §1666, 5 MRSA §1666-A

Legislative Document 
No. 80 
H.P. 58 
House of Representatives, January 22, 2013 
An Act To Change the Schedule for the Beginning of the Biennial 
Budget Cycle 
Reference to the Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative COTTA of China. 
Cosponsored by Senator KATZ of Kennebec and 
Representatives: AYOTTE of Caswell, BOLAND of Sanford, CAREY of Lewiston, DION of 
Portland, HARVELL of Farmington, HAYES of Buckfield, KESCHL of Belgrade, SANBORN 
of Gorham. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  5 MRSA §1665, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2009, c. 636, Pt. C, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Expenditure and appropriation requirements.  On or before September 1st of 
the even-numbered odd-numbered years, all departments and other agencies of the State 
Government and corporations and associations receiving or desiring to receive state funds 
under the provisions of law shall prepare, in the manner prescribed by the State Budget 
Officer, and submit to the officer estimates of their expenditure and appropriation 
requirements for each fiscal year of the ensuing biennium.  The expenditure estimates 
must be classified to set forth the data by funds, organization units, character and objects 
of expenditure. The organization units may be subclassified by functions and activities, or 
in any other manner, at the discretion of the State Budget Officer. 
All departments and other agencies receiving or desiring to receive state funds from the 
Highway Fund shall submit to the officer estimates of their expenditure and appropriation 
requirements for each fiscal year of the ensuing biennium that do not exceed the Highway 
Fund appropriation of the previous fiscal year multiplied by one plus the average real 
personal income growth rate or 2.75%, whichever is less.  The Highway Fund highway 
and bridge improvement accounts are exempt from this spending limitation. 
The State Budget Officer shall request that the Governor provide the budget proposal for 
the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission developed pursuant to Title 30, section 6212, 
subsection 6. 
Sec. 2.  5 MRSA §1665, sub-§7, as repealed and replaced by PL 1999, c. 127, Pt. 
A, §6 and affected by §7, is amended to read: 
7.  General Fund and Highway Fund revenue and expenditure forecasts.  By 
September 30th of each even-numbered odd-numbered year, the State Budget Officer 
shall prepare and deliver a report to the Governor, the Legislature and the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over appropriations and financial affairs 
containing a forecast of revenue and expenditures for the following biennium.  The 
forecast must assume the continuation of current laws and include reasonable and 
predictable estimates of growth in revenues and expenditures based on national and local 
trends and program operations.  General Fund and Highway Fund revenue must be 
forecasted by income source as provided in chapter 151-B.  Expenditure forecasts for the 
General Fund and the Highway Fund must be forecasted on the basis of current law and 
assumed inflation variables related to program operations.  The forecast for the General 
Fund and the Highway Fund must be presented in a budget fund flow statement and a 
comparative statement showing each income source for revenue projections and 
expenditure estimates for each major program category. 
Sec. 3.  5 MRSA §1666, first ¶, as amended by PL 2005, c. 601, §4, is further 
amended to read: 
The Governor-elect or the Governor, with the assistance of the State Budget Officer, 
shall review the budget estimates, altering, revising, increasing or decreasing the items of 
the estimates as may be determined necessary in view of the needs of the various 
departments and agencies and the total anticipated income of the State Government 
during the ensuing biennium.  This review must cover all budgets regardless of source of 
funds, including, but not limited to, budgets related to the Highway Fund, the Federal 
Revenue Sharing Fund and other special revenue funds.  The State Budget Officer, at the 
direction of the Governor-elect or the Governor, shall then prepare a state budget 
document in the form required by law.  The Governor-elect or the Governor is fully 
responsible for all budgetary recommendations made to the Legislature.  The Governor 
shall transmit the budget document to the Legislature not later than the Friday following 
the first Monday in January of December in odd-numbered years for consideration in the 
first second regular legislative session.  At that time the Governor shall also transmit any 
emergency bills that authorize additional appropriations or allocations in the current fiscal 
year that the Governor may wish to propose.  A Governor-elect elected to a first term of 
office shall transmit the budget document to the Legislature not later than the Friday 
following the first Monday in February of the first regular legislative session.  At that 
time the Governor-elect shall also transmit any emergency bills that authorize additional 
appropriations or allocations in the current fiscal year that the Governor may wish to 
propose. 
Sec. 4.  5 MRSA §1666-A, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 113, §1, is amended to read: 
§1666-A.  Enactment of budget 
The Legislature shall review a biennial or supplemental budget submitted to it in 
accordance with this chapter and enact a budget no later than 30 days prior to the date of 
adjournment prescribed in Title 3, section 2, except that, during the first year in office of 
a Governor-elect Governor, the Legislature shall enact a budget no later than the first 
Friday in June April. 
Sec. 5.  Application; single-year budget 2015-16.  Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2015, the budget of the State 
must provide for a complete financial plan for only that one fiscal year. 
Sec. 6.  Submit legislation.  The Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and 
Financial Affairs shall submit a bill to the Second Regular Session of the 126th 
Legislature to address references throughout the Maine Revised Statutes to the "biennial 
budget" and to make any additional technical changes necessary to implement this Act. 
Sec. 7.  Effective date.  Those sections of this Act that amend the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 5, sections 1665, 1666 and 1666-A take effect July 1, 2015. 
SUMMARY 
This bill shifts the start of the fiscal biennium for the state budget from the first 
regular session of the Legislature to the second regular session of the Legislature, 
beginning for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2016.  This bill also provides that the 
state budget beginning on July 1, 2015 is a one-year budget.