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JFO gives House Appropriations Committee a primer on budget language
Summary
Emily Byrne of the Joint Fiscal Office briefed the House Appropriations Committee on core budget terms—appropriation/spending authority, obligation, expense, carry forward and reversion—and explained delegated authorities such as excess receipts under Title 32.
Emily Byrne, fiscal analyst at the Joint Fiscal Office, told the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 22 that some of the budget terminology routinely used in hearings has precise meanings that affect how agencies may access and use public money.
"Spending authority is sort of effectively the legislature executing its power of the purse," Byrne said, adding that an appropriation is the formal name for that spending authority and that the terms are often used interchangeably by practitioners.
Byrne told committee members that an appropriation or spending authority authorizes a specific branch or agency to spend money from a defined fund for a defined purpose, but does not itself create an obligation or an expense. She distinguished the three steps:…
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