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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 74 FILED ON: 1/7/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2221 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Bruce E. Tarr |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to zero-based budgeting and budget transparency. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Bruce E. TarrFirst Essex and Middlesex 1 of 3 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 74 FILED ON: 1/7/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2221 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Mr. Tarr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2221) of Bruce E. Tarr for legislation |
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| 19 | 19 | | relative to zero-based budgeting and budget transparency. State Administration and Regulatory |
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| 20 | 20 | | Oversight. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE SENATE, NO. 2068 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act relative to zero-based budgeting and budget transparency. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting, after section 5H, the |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2following new section:- |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 Section 5I: Development and Adoption of Zero-Based Budget Estimates |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4 The Secretary of Administration and Finance, with the approval of the Governor, shall on |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5a quadrennial basis develop and submit to the Clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6a zero-based budget, so-called, for each agency and department of state government. Said zero- |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7based budget shall reflect the amount of funding deemed necessary to achieve the most cost- |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8effective performance of each agency or department pursuant to an accompanying narrative |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9delineating the tasks to be performed by that agency or department, together with goals and 2 of 3 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10objectives for each agency or department for a period not to exceed four years. Said budget shall |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11have a zero dollar amount as its basis, and shall not reflect any prior appropriation amount, |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12adjusted or otherwise. Said zero-based budget shall be referred by the Senate and House of |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13Representatives to the committees of subject matter jurisdiction relevant to each component of |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14said budget. Such committees shall evaluate each such component, taking into account all |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15available information, including that provided by public testimony in oral and written form. The |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16evaluations of the committee shall then be reported to the Senate and House Committees on |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17Ways and Means. |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18 The Ways and Means Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives shall, |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19jointly or individually, conduct at least one public hearing on the zero-based budget and shall |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20also receive written and electronic testimony for a period of not less than 30 days on said budget. |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21Said ways and means committees shall jointly develop and submit to the Clerks of the Senate |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22and House of Representatives a zero-based budget estimate not later than 60 days following the |
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| 53 | 53 | | 23receipt of the zero-based budget estimate filed by the Secretary pursuant to this section. Said |
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| 54 | 54 | | 24zero-based budget estimate shall be included in a joint resolution and placed before the members |
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| 55 | 55 | | 25of the General Court for their consideration. Such joint resolution, if adopted, shall be employed |
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| 56 | 56 | | 26in evaluating each annual budget considered by the General Court for the four years following its |
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| 57 | 57 | | 27adoption. |
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| 58 | 58 | | 28 Zero-based budgeting shall mean, for the purposes of this section, a means of developing |
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| 59 | 59 | | 29appropriations based on the cost-effective achievement of the tasks and goals of a particular |
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| 60 | 60 | | 30agency or department without regard to prior appropriations, adjusted for inflation or otherwise. |
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| 61 | 61 | | 31Any appropriation so developed shall to the extent possible, be accompanied by a brief 3 of 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | 32description of said tasks and goals together with the performance measure of the achievement of |
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| 63 | 63 | | 33those tasks and goals. |
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