CCS HS SCS SB 299 & 40 -- MISSOURI SUNSET ACT; PERFORMANCE-BASED
BUDGETING

MISSOURI SUNSET ACT

This bill creates the Missouri Sunset Act.  Each new program
authorized by the General Assembly will sunset after a period not
to exceed six years.  A program may be re-authorized for up to 12
years.

Two years prior to a program's scheduled sunset, the agency
responsible for administering the program is required to submit
certain information to the Committee on Legislative Research
regarding the public need for the continuation of the program.
The committee is to hold hearings and issue a report to the
General Assembly with recommendations on whether the program
should be continued, reorganized, discontinued, or consolidated
within state agencies not being reviewed.  Any recommendations
not requiring statutory changes are to be presented to the State
Auditor and used in the next scheduled audit of the program to
review the agency's implementation of the recommendations.

Programs inactive for two years prior to the scheduled sunset may
be exempted from hearing, evaluation, and reporting requirements.
During each legislative session, committee staff is required to
monitor proposed legislation affecting programs that have
undergone review and periodically report to the committee any
proposed changes that would modify prior committee
recommendations.  The General Assembly retains the right to
terminate any program prior to the program's scheduled sunset.
Any program to which money has been appropriated prior to August
28, 2003, may be subject to review as provided in the bill and
recommended for termination or continuation.

A program that is to sunset will continue in existence until June
30 of the following year.  Any moneys remaining after the sunset
are to be transferred to the General Revenue Fund.  Property and
records are to be transferred to the Office of Administration or
the designated state agency.  Bonded indebtedness and other
written obligations are to remain in effect until the terms are
completed and paid in full.

The committee may inspect the records of any state agency and
will have the full cooperation of state agencies and officials.
Any state employee displaced by the sunset of a program will be
assisted in relocating by the state agency and the Division of
Employment Security.

PERFORMANCE-BASED BUDGETING

The bill requires the Director of the Division of Budget and
Planning to develop and implement a performance-based budgeting
system that establishes goals and objectives, provides detailed
measures of program and fund performance against attainment of
planned goals, and provides for program evaluation.  The Governor
may consider outcome measures used for each program and fund as
compared with the attainment of the established goals of the
program and fund over the preceding three fiscal years in
preparing budget recommendations to the General Assembly.  The
General Assembly is to consider the three preceding fiscal years'
outcome measures and attainment of goals and objectives for each
program and fund in approving appropriation levels for each
program and fund.

The Governor's annual budget recommendations are to include all
outcome measures and attainment of established goals and
objectives of each program and fund for the preceding three
fiscal years, the current fiscal year, and the following two
fiscal years; the most recent reports submitted by the State
Auditor's Office; and any evaluations done by the Oversight
Division of the Committee on Legislative Research.

Beginning January 1, 2005, the bill requires a performance-based
budgeting review of each department and agency at least once
every five years.  The chairpersons of the House Budget Committee
and the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Director of the
Division of Budget and Planning are required to review the
outcome measures used for programs and funds within the
department, division, or agency being reviewed.

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated July 25, 2003 at 10:13 am