INTRODUCED
BY B. Mercer
By Request of the ****
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT REQUIRING THE OFFICE OF BUDGET AND PROGRAM PLANNING TO REPORT ON ACTUAL COSTS OF certain LEGISLATION WITH PROJECTED FISCAL IMPACT of over $1 million to the general fund in a fiscal year; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE and a termination date."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Report of actual costs for legislation with projected fiscal impact. (1) Except for the general appropriations act and any bill exempted by the legislature, for each bill with an estimated expenditure amount of over $1 million from the general fund in any 1 of the 4 fiscal years identified in the bill's fiscal note, or as required in the bill, that is passed and approved for which a fiscal note is prepared and presented to the legislature, the office of budget and program planning shall prepare and present an annual report to the legislative finance committee by October 1 of each year. The report must include the following information:
(a) the name of the bill;
(b) the actual expenditures incurred based on the bill as enacted for the past entire fiscal year and a description of how the funds were expended; and
(c) a comparison to the projected costs of the bill as projected in the fiscal note for that same fiscal year.
(2) The report to the legislature must include bills that qualify under subsection (1) for which a fiscal note was prepared which have been in effect for at least 1 fiscal year. The bill must be included in the report for each year a cost was projected in a corresponding fiscal note.
(3) The report must be provided in an electronic format.
(4) The report must also be submitted to the legislature as provided in 5-11-210.
Section 2. Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 5, chapter 4, part 2, and the provisions of Title 5, chapter 4, part 2, apply to [section 1].
Section 3. Coordination instruction. If both [this act] and [LC 301] are passed and approved, reference to the report provided for in [section 1] must be included in [section 1] of [LC 301].
Section 4. Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 2021.
Section 5. Applicability. [This act] applies to eligible bills beginning in fiscal year 2022, and the first report is due October 1, 2022.
Section 6. Termination. [This act] terminates December 31, 2025.