(a) All money in the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund derived from federal sources or from appropriations to other state agencies, or deposited in the account by local agencies or by others, is continuously appropriated to, and shall be available for expenditure by, the department for the purposes for which the money was made available.

Unless otherwise expressly provided for by law, none of the balance of the money in the State Highway Account shall be expended until it has been specifically appropriated by the Legislature or made available pursuant to § 13322 of the Government Code.

The Budget Act appropriations shall be made on a program basis only and shall not identify the specific capital outlay projects to be funded. The commission shall be responsible for allocating the funds to specific projects within the budget program categories, except that all funds described in Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2200) of Division 3 shall be allocated on a program basis to the department for allocation pursuant to that chapter.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), commencing with the 1985-86 Budget, the department shall submit with its budget requests a detailed description of the acquisition, improvement, and construction of office building projects to the Legislature for review. The total amount appropriated for those projects shall be identified as a separate line item in the Budget Act. Funds appropriated for those projects shall be allocated by the commission only for projects which have been approved by the Legislature. Minor projects are to be defined consistent with Section 167. The commission may substitute for approved minor projects, if the total sum of minor projects is within the amount approved by the Legislature.

(c) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon order of the Department of Finance, all or some of the state agencies collecting revenues for, or spending from, the State Highway Account shall adjust budgeting, accounting, and reporting systems and documents so that unliquidated encumbrances, payables, and other accruals are not reflected in the fund balance in the Governor’s Budget fund condition display or the fund balance in the financial statements submitted to the Controller for the budgetary-legal basis annual report.

(2) For the purposes of the Governor’s Budget, the balance of cash advanced from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Revolving Account, as jointly determined by the Department of Finance and the state agencies referenced in paragraph (1), shall be deemed as resources and cash available to the Transportation Deferred Investment Fund for budgeting purposes.

(3) This method shall be effective with the 2013-14 Governor’s Budget development process and may be applied to the 2011-12 data.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 35, Sec. 11. (SB 85) Effective June 27, 2013.)