State finance: budget process.

Under existing law, duties and responsibilities are imposed upon the Governor and the Director of Finance relating to the preparation and submission of the annual state budget to the Legislature, including, among other things, providing a complete plan of all proposed expenditures and estimated revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit the Legislature from sending to the Governor for consideration, and prohibit the Governor from signing, a Budget Bill that would appropriate from the General Fund a total amount that, when combined with specific appropriations and transfers, exceeds the General Fund revenues for that fiscal year estimated as of the date of the Budget Bill's passage. This bill would make statutory changes to the state budget process to implement and conform to constitutional changes proposed by ACA 4 and would become operative only if ACA 4 is approved by the voters.