Florida Senate Creates Budget Office
Nov 19, 2009
The Florida Senate has created a new Budget Office that will be responsible for providing independent analyses of state government agency operations, including overlapping agency jurisdictions and functions, the financial structure of agencies, sources and uses of revenues, expenditure patterns and performance evaluation.
Senate President Jeff Atwater indicated that his ultimate goal would be to expand the Seneat Budget Office into a model similar to that of the Congressional Budget Office.
Additional details about the new Senate Budget Office are provided in the press release below.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass.
Senate President Jeff Atwater Announces Creation of A Senate Budget Office
November 19, 2009
Tallahassee, FL- Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-Palm Beach) today announced the creation of a Senate Budget Office (SBO).
Reporting directly to the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Policy Steering Committee, the SBO will be responsible for providing independent analyses of state government agency operations, including overlapping agency jurisdictions and functions, the financial structure of agencies, sources and uses of revenues, expenditure patterns and whether programmatic performance measures exist and are being met.
“Comprehensive analyses of state government and its operations are critical to sound budgetary decision making,” said Senator J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales). “Although individual state agencies are directed to recommend agency specific reductions to the Legislature, there is no single office responsible for an impartial and unbiased budgetary review of Florida’s governmental agencies.”
The SBO will conduct proactive reviews and analyses to identify budgetary reductions through process efficiencies, best practices, the elimination of duplicative or overlapping programs, the reduction of outmoded or unnecessary government services, and the application of sophisticated, state of the art analytical techniques. Through investigative, accounting, and auditing methods, the SBO is charged with reviewing individual state programs that comprise an agency’s mission, drawing conclusions regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery, and making unbiased recommendations for program modifications, including program elimination.
“Eventually I would like the Florida Legislature to explore the concept of expanding the Senate Budget Office into a model similar to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),” President Atwater remarked. “The CBO has played the role of honest broker, thereby improving national conversations on very sophisticated and nuanced policy issues. The costs of creating a Legislative Budget Office could be offset by streamlining and consolidating many of the functions now being performed by a number of Joint Committees.”
Initially the Senate Budget Office will be staffed with two non-partisan, impartial professionals dedicated to timely analyses that will aid in economic and budgetary decisions associated with the development of Florida’s budget.
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