The Format and Style of California’s Budget Bill

The Format and Style of California’s Budget Bill By Chris Micheli

            In the Budget Bill adopted each year prior to the start of the state’s fiscal year on July 1, there is a bill section that actually sets forth the format and style of the budget. In SB/AB 101, the 2025-26 Budget Bill, these provisions are contained in Section 1.50.

            Section 1.50(a) begins with a statement of legislative intent regarding compliance with three specified sections of the California Government Code. Subdivision (a) provides, in part, that “it is the intent of the Legislature that this act and other financial transactions authorized outside of this act utilize a coding scheme or structure compatible with the Governor’s Budget, the records of the Controller in legacy systems, and the Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal), and provide for the appropriation of federal funds received by the state and deposited in the State Treasury.”

            Thereafter, in Subdivision (b), the Budget Bill actually sets forth the format and style of the budget by specifying the following:

 

(1) Appropriation item numbers have a structure which is common to all the state’s fiscal systems. The meaning of this structure is as follows:

2720—​Business Unit (known as organization code in legacy systems, indicates the department or entity) (e.g., 2720 represents the Department of the California Highway Patrol)

001—​Reference Code (indicates whether the item is from the Budget Act or some other source and its character (e.g., 001–100 represents state operations in the Budget Act))

0044—​Fund Code (e.g., 0044 represents the Motor Vehicle Account, State Transportation Fund)

Although the Budget Bill is “uncodified” (i.e., its language is not contained in any of the 29 California Codes were the codified statutes are found), it is nonetheless interesting that the Legislature places in law the format of budget line items. As a result, when reading and citing a Budget Bill line-item, sch as 2720-001-0044, you will know that this line item refers to a specific state entity, the source of its funds, and an account number.

Section 1.50 also explains that appropriation items are organized in Business Unit order. Moreover, all the appropriation items, reappropriation items, and reversion items, if any, for each Business Unit are adjacent to one another. And, federal funds received by the state and deposited in the State Treasury are appropriated in separate items.

Section 1.50 also authorizes the Department of Finance to revise the codes or structures used in order “to provide compatibility between the codes or structures used in this act or in other spending authority outside of this act and those used in the Governor’s Budget, in the records of the Controller in legacy systems, and in FI$Cal.”

            Also of interest is that Section 1.50 allows the Department of Finance to revise the schedule of any appropriation made “where the revision is of a technical nature and is consistent with legislative intent. These revisions may include, but shall not be limited to, the distribution of any unallocated amounts within an appropriation and the adjustment of schedules to facilitate departmental accounting operations. These revisions shall include a certification that the revisions comply with the intent and limitation of expenditures as appropriated by the Legislature.”

            Finally, Section 1.50 allows the Department of Finance to make technical changes or corrections in FI$Cal or the Controller’s legacy systems resulting from or related to the conversion or implementation of FI$Cal for the current or past fiscal years.

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