At the end of the first special session, the legislature passed SSB 6636. Beginning in 2013-15, the legislature will be required to enact operating budgets that are balanced over four years. Right now, the governor must propose a balanced budget, but there is no requirement for the legislature to actually pass one.

Additionally, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will have to appove a budget outlook every November (plus outlooks based on the governor’s proposed budgets and enacted budgets). Outlooks are very useful in considering how current programs will affect the budget in later years. The Office of Financial Management produces an outlook occasionally, and Kriss has created outlooks based on the different budget proposals this year (see, for example, here).

In a new brief today, we look at SSB 6636 in detail.