House Bill No. 191

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act requiring information concerning program transfers to include information on amounts for activities not specifically funded by the legislature; requiring the legislative fiscal analyst to notify the legislative finance committee of certain transfers; amending section

17-7-139, MCA; and providing an effective date."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



Section 1.  Section 17-7-139, MCA, is amended to read:

"17-7-139.   Program transfers. (1) Unless prohibited by law, the approving authority may approve agency requests to transfer appropriations between programs within each fund type within each fiscal year. The transfer may not exceed 5% of the total agency appropriation, excluding statutory appropriations, administrative authorizations, and budget amendments. All program transfers must be completed within the same fund from which the transfer originated. A request for a transfer accompanied by a justification explaining the reason for the transfer must be submitted by the requesting agency to the approving authority and the office of budget and program planning.

(2) Upon approval of the transfer, the approving authority shall inform the legislative fiscal analyst of the approved transfer and the justification for the transfer. The information provided to the legislative fiscal analyst must specify any amount of the transfer that is for an activity not specifically funded by the legislature. The legislative fiscal analyst shall notify the legislative finance committee of any transfer of $50,000 or more and of any transfer that is for an activity not specifically funded by the legislature."



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 1997.

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