Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 9B – Allotment of monies made available by appropriation to state agencies; initial and supplemental allotments by secretary
Section 9B. Any monies made available by appropriation to state agencies under the control of the governor or a secretary, but not including the courts, the office of the governor and the office of the lieutenant governor, shall be expended only in such amounts as may be allotted as provided in this section. The secretary of administration and finance shall allot to each such state agency the amount which it may expend for each month out of the sums made available to it by appropriation or otherwise, taking into account the programmatic needs of the program supported by the appropriation and the cash-flow needs of the commonwealth. The initial allotment shall be the result of dividing the annual sum available for expenditure by 12, unless the full legislative objective of an appropriation would be accomplished, without amendment, by a lesser allotment than that required by the formula. The secretary may allot a greater amount than required by the formula provided, however, that the total amount allotted during the fiscal year shall not exceed the amount available through appropriation or otherwise. If a greater allotment is authorized under the preceding sentence, the secretary shall document on the state’s accounting system the reasons why the greater allotment was authorized and why the resulting expenditure will not exceed the amount available through appropriation or otherwise. Not less than 15 days prior to the initial allotment of such greater amount from any appropriation for which a supplemental appropriation will become necessary if current rates of spending continue, the secretary of administration and finance shall file with the house and senate committees on ways and means a report containing the following information: (1) the amount of the appropriation which the secretary proposes to allot; and (2) a detailed corrective action plan to prevent a deficiency in the account or accounts involved; a request for a supplemental or deficiency appropriation, if such corrective action plan would not eliminate the deficiency or would violate the legislative objective of the appropriation; or a statement explaining why neither a corrective action plan nor a supplemental appropriation is necessary.
Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 29 sec. 9B
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- 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.
- Supplemental appropriation: Budget authority provided in an appropriations act in addition to regular or continuing appropriations already provided. Supplemental appropriations generally are made to cover emergencies, such as disaster relief, or other needs deemed too urgent to be postponed until the enactment of next year's regular appropriations act.
If so designated, the secretary of administration and finance shall designate such member or members of the secretary’s office as may be approved by the governor to exercise the foregoing powers in the absence of said secretary.
Whenever the officer in charge of each such state agency requests a supplemental allotment, the officer shall submit to the budget director, in such form and at such times as the budget director shall prescribe, such information as may be required by the secretary of administration and finance provided, that before any such information relating to such a state agency has been so submitted to the budget director, it shall first be submitted to the secretary having charge of such state agency who shall review the same and make such additions, deletions and modifications as the secretary deems appropriate.