Bill Description: House Bill 834 would change the way encumbrances are liquidated that cross multiple fiscal years.
Rating: +1
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
Currently, the executive can use carry-forward authority to approve appropriations from one fiscal year to the next, and some can be carried forward for multiple years. This bill would require encumbrances to be liquidated by the end of the first quarter of the next fiscal year, else the agency must request an additional appropriation from the Legislature.
Article VII, Section 13 of the Idaho Constitution:
Money — HOW DRAWN FROM TREASURY. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations made by law.
By limiting executive carry-forward, this legislation makes the appropriation more constitutionally sound and protects the authority of the legislature as the only branch of government that can appropriate money.
(+1)
