Abatement
Abolishment of
Fund
The closure of
a fund pursuant to the operation of law. When
a special fund is abolished, all of its assets and liabilities are transferred
by the State Controller's Office to a successor fund, or if no successor fund
is specified, then to the General Fund.
The basis of accounting
in which revenue is recorded when earned and expenditures are recorded when
obligated, regardless of when the cash is received or paid.
Administration
Program Costs
The indirect cost
of a program, typically a share of the costs of the administrative units serving
the entire department (e.g., the Director's Office, Legal, Personnel, Accounting,
and Business Services). "Distributed
Administration" costs represent the distribution of the indirect costs
to the various program activities of a department.
In most departments, all administrative costs are distributed. (See also “Indirect Costs” and “SWCAP.”)
Administratively
Established Positions
Positions authorized
by the Department of Finance during a fiscal year that were not included in
the Budget and are necessary for workload or administrative reasons. Such positions terminate at the end of the fiscal
year, or, in order to continue, must meet certain criteria under Control Section
31.00. (SAM 6406, Control Section 31.00)
OR A government
organization belonging to the highest level of the state organizational hierarchy
as defined in the UCM. An organization
whose head (Agency Secretary) is designated by Governor's order as a cabinet
member. (SAM 6610)
Allocation
A distribution
of funds or costs from one account or appropriation to one or more accounts
or appropriations (e.g., the allocation of approved deficiency funding from
the statewide 9840 Budget Act items to departmental Budget Act items).
The approved division
of an amount (usually of an appropriation) to be expended for a particular
purpose during a specified time period. An allotment is generally authorized on a line
item expenditure basis by program or organization. (SAM 8300 et seq)
Amendment
A proposed or
accepted change to a bill in the Legislature, the California Constitution,
statutes enacted by the Legislature, or ballot initiative.
A-pages
A common reference
to the Governor's Budget Summary. Budget
highlights now contained in the Governor's Budget Summary were once contained
in front of the Governor's Budget on pages A-1, A‑2, etc., and were,
therefore, called the A-pages.
Appropriated Revenue
Revenue which,
as it is earned, is reserved and appropriated for a specific purpose. An example is student fees received by state
colleges that are by law appropriated for the support of the colleges. The
revenue does not become available for expenditure until it is earned.
Appropriation
Authorization
for a specific agency to make expenditures or incur liabilities from a specific
fund for a specific purpose. It is usually limited in amount and period of
time during which the expenditure is to be incurred. For example, appropriations made by the Budget
Act are available for encumbrance for one year, unless otherwise specified.
Appropriations made by other legislation are available for encumbrance
for three years, unless otherwise specified, and appropriations stating “without
regard to fiscal year” shall be available from year to year until expended.
Legislation or the California Constitution can provide continuous appropriations,
and the voters can also make appropriations.
An appropriation
shall be available for encumbrance during the period specified therein, or
if not specified, for a period of three years after the date upon which it
first became available for encumbrance. Except for federal funds, liquidation of encumbrances
must be within two years of the expiration date of the period of availability
for encumbrance, at which time the undisbursed (i.e., unliquidated ) balance of the appropriation
is reverted back into the fund. Federal
funds have four years to liquidate.
Appropriation Without Regard
To Fiscal Year (AWRTFY)
An appropriation
for a specified amount that is available from year to year until expended.
Appropriations
Limit, State (SAL)
The constitutional
limit on the growth of certain appropriations from tax proceeds, generally
set to the level of the prior year's appropriation limit as adjusted for changes
in cost of living and population. Other adjustments may be made for such reasons
as the transfer of services from one government entity to another. (Article
XIII B, § 8; GC Sec.
7900 et seq; CS 12.00)
Appropriation
Schedule
The detail of
an appropriation (e.g., in the Budget Act), showing the distribution of the
appropriation to each of the categories, programs, or projects thereof.
Assembly
California's lower
house of the Legislature composed of 80 members who are elected for two-year
terms and may serve a maximum of three terms. (Article IV, § 2 (a))
Augmentation
An authorized
increase to a previously authorized appropriation or allotment. This increase can be authorized by Budget Act
provisional language, control sections, or other legislation. Usually a Budget Revision or an Executive Order
is processed to implement the increase.
As reflected
in the Governor’s Budget, authorized positions represent a point-in-time number
as of July 1 of the current year. For past year, authorized positions represents
the number of actual personnel years for that year. For current year, authorized positions include
all regular ongoing positions approved in the Budget Act for that year, less
positions abolished because of continued vacancy. For budget year, the number of authorized positions
is the same as current year except for adjustments for any positions that
will expire by the end of the current year. The detail of
authorized positions by department and classification is published in the
annual “Salaries and Wages Supplement.” Changes
in authorized positions are listed at the end of each department's budget
presentation in the Governor's Budget. (GC 19818; SAM 6406)
Availability Period
The time period
during which an appropriation may be encumbered (i.e., committed for expenditure),
usually specified by the law creating the appropriation. If no specific time is provided in financial
legislation, the period of availability automatically becomes three years. Unless otherwise provided, Budget Act appropriations
are available for one year. However
based on project phase, capital outlay projects may have up to three years
to encumber. An appropriation with
the term "without regard to fiscal year" has an unlimited period
of availability and may be encumbered at any time until the funding is exhausted.
(See also "Encumbrances")
Baseline Adjustment
A change from
the currently authorized budget necessary to maintain the current level of
service or activities in the current year or in a future year. Also referred to as Workload Budget Adjustment.
Baseline Budget
Bill
A draft of a proposed
law presented to the Legislature for enactment. (A bill has greater legal formality and standing
than a resolution.)
OR An invoice,
or itemized statement, of an amount owing for goods and services received.
Board of Control,
State
Previous name
for the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.
Bond Funds
For legal basis
budgeting purposes, funds used to account for the receipt and disbursement
of non-self liquidating general obligation bond proceeds. These funds do not
account for the debt retirement since the liability created by the sale of
bonds is not a liability of bond funds. Depending
on the provisions of the bond act, either the General Fund or a sinking fund
pays the principal and interest on the general obligation bonds.
The proceeds and debt of bonds related to self-liquidating bonds are
included in nongovernmental cost funds. (SAM
14400)
Budget
A plan of operation
expressed in terms of financial or other resource requirements for a specific
period of time. (GC 13320, 13335;
SAM 6120)
Budget Act (BA)
An annual statute
authorizing state departments to expend appropriated funds for the purposes
stated in the Governor's Budget and amended by the Legislature. (SAM 6333)
Budget Bill
Legislation presenting
the Governor’s proposal for spending authorization for the next fiscal year.
This bill is prepared by the Department of Finance and submitted to
each house of the Legislature in January (accompanying the Governor's Budget).
The bills' authors are typically the budget committee chairpersons.
The California
Constitution requires the Legislature to pass the Budget Bill and send it
by June 15 each year to the Governor for signature. After signature by the
Governor, the Budget Bill becomes the Budget Act. (Art. IV. § 12(c); GC 13338; SAM 6325, 6333)
Budget Change
Proposal (BCP)
A proposal to
change the level of service or funding sources for activities authorized by
the Legislature, propose new program activities not currently authorized,
or to delete existing programs. The Department of Finance annually issues
a Budget Letter with specific instructions for preparing BCPs. (SAM 6120)
Budget Cycle
The period of
time, usually one year, required to prepare a state financial plan and enact
that portion of it applying to the budget year. Significant events in the
cycle include:
Budget, Program or Traditional
A program budget
expresses the operating plan in terms of the costs of activities (programs)
to be undertaken to achieve specific goals and objectives. A traditional (or object of expenditure) budget
expresses the plan in terms of categories of costs of the goods or services
to be used to perform specific functions.
The Governor's
Budget is primarily a program budget but also includes detailed categorization
of proposed expenditures for goods and services (Expenditures by Category)
for State Operations for each department.
(GC 13336; SAM 6210, 6220)
Budget Revision
(BR)
A document, usually
approved by the Department of Finance, that cites a legal authority to authorize
a change in an appropriation. Typically, BRs either increase the appropriation
or make adjustments to the categories or programs within the appropriation
as scheduled. (SAM 6533, 6542,
6545)
Budget Year (BY)
The next state
fiscal year, beginning July 1 and ending June 30, for which the Governor's
Budget is submitted (i.e., the year following the current fiscal year).
CALSTARS
The acronym for
the California State Accounting and Reporting System, the state's primary
accounting system. Most departments now use CALSTARS. (GC 13300)
Capital Outlay
(CO)
A character of
expenditure of funds to acquire land, plan and construct new buildings, expand
or modify existing buildings, and/or purchase equipment related to such construction.
(CS 3.00)
Carryover
The unencumbered
balance of an appropriation available for expenditure in years subsequent
to the year of enactment. For example,
if a three-year appropriation is not fully encumbered in the first year, the
remaining amount is carried over to the next fiscal year.
Cash Basis
The basis of accounting
that records receipts and disbursements when cash is received or paid.
Cash Flow Statement
A statement of
cash receipts and disbursements for a specified period of time. Amounts recorded as accruals, which do not affect
cash, are not reflected in this statement.
Category
Category Transfer
An allowed transfer
between categories or functions within the same schedule of an appropriation.
Such transfers are presently authorized by Control Section 26.00 of
the Budget Act (and prior to 1996‑97, by Section 6.50 of the Budget
Act). The control section specifies the amounts of
the allowable transfers and reporting requirements.
Change Book
System
The system the
Department of Finance uses to record all the legislative changes made to the
Governor's Budget and the final actions on the budget taken by the Legislature
and Governor. A “Final Change Book”
is published after enactment of the Budget Act.
It includes detailed fiscal information on the changes made by the
Legislature and by the Governor's vetoes.
(SAM 6355)
Change Tables
Change tables
are included in the Governor’s Budget Summary to provide the reader a snapshot
of proposed expenditure and position adjustments in each agency, why those changes are being proposed,
and their dollar and position impact. There
is one change table for each of the following agencies or sub-agencies:
Legislative, Judicial, and Executive; State and Consumer Services;
Business, Transportation, and Housing; Resources; Environmental Protection;
Health and Human Services; Corrections and Rehabilitation; K-12 Education;
Higher Education; Labor and Workforce Development; and General Government.
The Change Tables include three adjustment
categories: workload, policy, and infrastructure. The most important policy and workload adjustments
may be individually highlighted or included in a category. The categories
are comprised of standard workload adjustments displayed in each agency change
table. Some change tables may include specific categories that are unique
to a particular agency. Below are the
standard change table categories or headings including definitions:
- Workload Budget - See “Workload Budget.”
- Policy Adjustments
- See “Policy Adjustments.”
- Infrastructure Adjustments
- Adjustments
to provide funding for capital outlay (an expenditure of funds to acquire
land or other real property, plan and construct new buildings, expand or
modify existing buildings, and/or purchase equipment related to such construction).
These adjustments are consolidated
into one line item at the bottom of each change table, regardless of whether
the infrastructure adjustments are classified as workload or policy.
- Enrollment/Caseload/Population - See “Enrollment, Caseload,
& Population Adjustments.”
- Employee Compensation/Retirement - See “Employee Compensation/Retirement.”
- Statutory Cost -of-Living Adjustments - Cost-of-living adjustments
required by law.
- Court Orders/Lawsuits - Costs resulting from court-ordered
settlements or judgments against the state.
- Expiring Programs or Positions - Reduction of the budget-year
funding and positions for expiring programs or positions.
- One-Time Cost Reductions - Reductions of the budget-year
funding and positions to account for one-time costs budgeted in the current
year.
- Full-Year Cost
of New Programs
- Increases to the
budget year funding and positions to reflect the full-year costs of programs
authorized to begin after July 1 of the current fiscal year (does not include
the full year effect of employee compensation adjustments that are displayed
separately).
- Other Workload Adjustments - This category includes all workload adjustments not included
in one of the aforementioned categories. Adjustments reflected in this category
may include reductions for vacant positions per Government Code 12439, new
legislation (i.e., costs not already built in the current year enacted budget
total), carryovers and reappropriations of funds to be used for the same
purposes, Pro Rata costs, and Statewide Costs Allocation Plan (SWCAP) adjustments. Pro
Rata costs represent General Fund recoveries from special funds for statewide
general administrative costs incurred by central service agencies.
SWCAP adjustments represent General Fund
recoveries from federal funds for statewide general administrative costs
incurred by central service agencies.
Changes in Authorized Positions (“Schedule 2”)
A schedule included
at the end of each department’s budget display in the Governor's Budget that
reflects staffing changes made subsequent to the adoption of the current year
budget. This schedule documents transfers,
positions established, and selected reclassifications, as well as proposed
new positions for the budget year. (SAM 6406)
Chapter
The reference
assigned by the Secretary of State to an enacted bill, numbered sequentially
in order of enactment each calendar year.
The enacted bill is then referred to by this "chapter" number
and the year in which it became law. For
example, Chapter 1, Statutes of 1997, would refer to the first bill enacted in 1997.