Section 3A. Any officer having charge of any state agency which receives a periodic appropriation from the commonwealth, or any officer of a state authority, shall upon the request of any standing committee of the house or senate, or of any joint standing committee of the general court, furnish in writing to such committee, in a format prescribed by such committee, any information requested by such committee that is necessary for the committee to perform its duties. The information shall include, but not be limited to, historical, current or proposed operational costs funded through any appropriation, bond authorizations, federal grants, trust funds or other funding sources, the officer’s estimate of the cost of proposed legislation affecting activities which are or would be under the officer’s supervision, estimates of and reasons for any supplemental funding that is projected to be needed during the fiscal year, estimates of revenue collections, estimates of proposed changes in fees or taxes, and any other such information as may be required by the committee. Such estimates shall be provided to such committee within 10 days of the receipt of such a request by the officer. If the officer fails to respond within 10 days, the matter shall be referred to the house or senate committee on post audit and oversight which shall, in conjunction with the committee that originally requested the information, determine if further action is necessary.

Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 3A

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.