ZERO-BASED BUDGETING

Amends the State Budget Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Defines "zero-based budgeting" as a method of setting budgets that requires a justification of all expenditures, not only those that exceed the prior year's allocations. Thus, each budget line begins at a zero base and must be funded according to merit rather than according to the level approved for the preceding year, when circumstances were probably different. For fiscal year 2013 and thereafter, provides that the budgets submitted by the Governor and appropriations made by the General Assembly for the judicial branch and for all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Executive Ethics Commission must adhere to the principles of zero-based budgeting. Effective immediately.