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Senator Gray urges quarterly reporting to reduce large budget estimate swings
Summary
Senator James Gray said SB 600 would require regular executive-branch reporting on revenue and lapse estimates to help the legislature track large, previously unexplained differences between governor, House and Senate budget projections.
Senator James Gray told the Finance Committee that Senate Bill 600 aims to improve the data the legislature receives about revenue and expenditure estimates, including departmental lapse calculations, so lawmakers can plot trends and reduce large variances observed between governor, House and Senate figures.
"How do you budget for a state when you've got, you know, tens of millions of dollars, you know, that you don't know whether it's coming, going, or whatever," Gray said, summarizing recent swings in lapse estimates. He described the bill as a tool to require quarterly reporting that can be reviewed over the two-year budget cycle.
Committee members asked whether the governor's office could supply similar information voluntarily and whether monthly reports already provide adequate detail. Members also raised the need to understand methodology and underlying assumptions for estimates; Gray said the bill intentionally requests data rather than prescribing methodology, and that questions about enforcement would be addressed in separate legislation if necessary.
The committee discussed scheduling and referred related bills to division work sessions for further consideration.
