Budget Publications Descriptions

A document used to explain the recommendations of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee in the appropriations bill to their respective committees of the whole. This document is prepared by KLRD fiscal analysts and enumerates all changes made by the committee to the Governor’s Budget Recommendation.

At the beginning of each Legislative Session, KLRD publishes a multi-volume publication, called Budget Analysis. Inside this publication are write-ups prepared by KLRD fiscal analysts that summarize and analyze each state agency’s budget information, including the agency’s request and the Governor’s recommendation for the current and next fiscal years.

The Conference Comparison List includes only the items on which the two chambers disagree and is used when conference committee members from the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee meet to discuss the differences in their respective budget bills to develop an agreement.

The Joint Building Committee Report, also called the Capital Improvement report, lists proposed capital improvements for an agency. The Joint Committee on State Building Construction compares the agency request and Governor’s recommendation, and provides a recommendation to the Legislature. The reports list capital improvements by program.

The Omnibus bill normally contains four basic types of items: technical adjustments to previous appropriation bills, financing for Governor’s budget amendments not considered part of the regular appropriations process, items deferred until Omnibus, and possible financing of substantive legislation that passed during the Session. All this information is addressed in the Omnibus Memorandum that is prepared for the money committees. This is the basis for the Omnibus bill that is run in both chambers and then goes to conference committee before its final approval.

Performance Based Budget reports list goal-oriented budgets (by program) for each agency. The reports list major goals of the program, some history of the program, and then several different measurable outcomes by year.

Shorthand Lists are designed to give the Legislature a compact, easy to read, table showing the adjustments made to each agency’s State General Fund appropriations, All Funds appropriations, and allocated FTE positions. These are produced at various stages during the budget process to reflect House and Senate actions, as well as Conference Committee and Omnibus actions.

This report is designed to provide easy-to-read information on fee fund balances, revenue sources, and recommended expenditure levels for special revenue funds, particularly for appropriated special revenue funds such as the Economic Development Initiatives Fund or the State Highway Fund.

The Three-Column Bill Explanation is used to explain and compare any changes taken by the House, Senate, and Conference Committee to the Governor’s recommendation. Three-Column Explanation information may be entered for the Regular Session or the Omnibus Session.