NE4: March-June Northeast Budget FY2014 (Law)

[cinyc]

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The debate timing rules for the budget are different from those for ordinary legislation.  Debate time on the budget shall be unlimited.  Debate shall be deemed over when a motion for cloture has been passed by a majority of all voting representatives.  

Though he is not required to do so, I encourage Governor Dallasfan65 to speak on behalf of his budget and explain his budget priorities.

The floor is open for debate.

[Deus Naturae]

Are the tax revenue figures in this budget updated from our last budget? If not, we should probably request a GM report when/if Adam Griffin is confirmed. If possible, we should also try to find out if we still have any of the last budget surplus left.

Anyway, here are my initial thoughts:
I assume that refitting government buildings and updating energy infrastructure were one-time things, so I think we can safely eliminate spending on those things.

I also think we should consider eliminating, or at the very least reducing, alternative energy spending and loans. It is my impression (which would seem to be confirmed by the recent Senate debate on fracking) that alternative energy development has reached a far more advanced stage in Atlasia than it has irl. Assuming that alternative energy is a dominant energy source at this point, I see no reason to continue subsidizing it.

Finally, now that we eliminated agricultural subsidies in the last session, that should probably translate into a spending cut somewhere, but I'm not sure which section of the budget that program was getting its funding from.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

For reference, this is sirnick's last budget (sans a change in the dates.) I just wanted to get it in the queue so we could get some discussion going on this.

The budget procedure's a bit new to me, but sirnick and Cincinnatus have given me a lot of help. We estimated that after the additional expenditures (stimulus and what not) we had an additional ~2.2 billion left over. I'll have to contact Adam about estimates for revenue this trimester.

[sentinel]

For reference, this is sirnick's last budget (sans a change in the dates.) I just wanted to get it in the queue so we could get some discussion going on this.

The budget procedure's a bit new to me, but sirnick and Cincinnatus have given me a lot of help. We estimated that after the additional expenditures (stimulus and what not) we had an additional ~2.2 billion left over. I'll have to contact Adam about estimates for revenue this trimester.

$2.2bil from the last budget is left over, in fact, we discussed that there is likely some left over from the first budget we passed when I was Governor as well.

Adam is the best bet for the new projected revenues, until then I'm not sure if debating too much of the budget will be worthwhile other than Deus' more technical questions.

Deus, what energy infrastructure excited expenditures were you talking about? Ones allocated via legislation last session or ones that are a permanent line item on the budget?

Also, I don't know where the agricultural subsidies even were in the budget. Perhaps tax expenditures, well have to ask Griffin.

[Deus Naturae]

I was referring to the $2 billion allocated to "updating the Northeast's energy infrastructure." My thought was that, since this was a budget that was previously passed, the infrastructure would've already been updated, and there would be no need to update it again, or at least not this soon.

[sentinel]

I was referring to the $2 billion allocated to "updating the Northeast's energy infrastructure." My thought was that, since this was a budget that was previously passed, the infrastructure would've already been updated, and there would be no need to update it again, or at least not this soon.

Infrastructure continuously needs updating and repair. Its not "one shot and done" kind of deal. Plus, I highly doubt the money allocated covered all updating and repair.

[bore]

I don't have much to say about the budget, but does anyone else think the northeast has too many budgets? Most other regions and the federal government have them every year or six months. For one thing 4 months is not long enough for a budget to go into effect, and often it just leads to the same budget being passed over and over again without much debate.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

For reference, this is sirnick's last budget (sans a change in the dates.) I just wanted to get it in the queue so we could get some discussion going on this.

The budget procedure's a bit new to me, but sirnick and Cincinnatus have given me a lot of help. We estimated that after the additional expenditures (stimulus and what not) we had an additional ~2.2 billion left over. I'll have to contact Adam about estimates for revenue this trimester.

Adam is the best bet for the new projected revenues, until then I'm not sure if debating too much of the budget will be worthwhile other than Deus' more technical questions.

Also, I don't know where the agricultural subsidies even were in the budget. Perhaps tax expenditures, well have to ask Griffin.

Noted. Should this be tabled until I correspond with the GM, or just fall to the bottom of the page and be bumped?

I don't have much to say about the budget, but does anyone else think the northeast has too many budgets? Most other regions and the federal government have them every year or six months. For one thing 4 months is not long enough for a budget to go into effect, and often it just leads to the same budget being passed over and over again without much debate.

It used to be yearly, but I believe this changed that.

[Napoleon]

I don't have much to say about the budget, but does anyone else think the northeast has too many budgets? Most other regions and the federal government have them every year or six months. For one thing 4 months is not long enough for a budget to go into effect, and often it just leads to the same budget being passed over and over again without much debate.

Most other regions are terr uhh ble.

Every Governor has the ability to mold his own fiscal policy. I think that's fair. If the budget being passed is the same (which is fine and something we talked about doing from time to time when budget policy changed), its the same as having an annual budget anyway. That the Northeast has continued to elect (basically) Liberal party type Governors since then is why the budget rarely changes.

[bore]

I don't really mind having a budget every 4 months and it is good from a gameplay perspective. From a policy point of view obviously it's not a great idea, but the appropriate balancing of policy and gameplay is always difficult to work out.

The one thing question I do have, is, is the costs and revnues based on what we spend every 4 months, or every year?

[Napoleon]

I don't really mind having a budget every 4 months and it is good from a gameplay perspective. From a policy point of view obviously it's not a great idea, but the appropriate balancing of policy and gameplay is always difficult to work out.

The one thing question I do have, is, is the costs and revnues based on what we spend every 4 months, or every year?

You have to use Atlasia math. Four months equals four years, except when one year equals one year and in this case when four months equals one year. So this is basically an annual budget that only lasts four months, except those months are supposed to represent four years.

[sentinel]

I agree w/ Napoleon and Bore. To add on, its fun, IMO, to be Governor and create a budget

[Deus Naturae]

I don't mean to overburden the Governor, but we should also try to determine how much is currently in the Disaster Relief Fund.

Also, I have a few more questions:

What does "tax expenditures" refer to?

What specifically is entailed in "direct aid and incentives to municipalities?"

[sentinel]

I don't mean to overburden the Governor, but we should also try to determine how much is currently in the Disaster Relief Fund.

Also, I have a few more questions:

What does "tax expenditures" refer to?

What specifically is entailed in "direct aid and incentives to municipalities?"

1) Disaster Relief Fund - Dallasfan65 and I discussed this with Cincinnatus. I think Dallasfan65 has a number on that now since we went over it in detail.

2) Tax Expenditures - Its been a line item in the budget for a while, I mentioned to you a while ago that you should ask the GM.

3) I believe there is a bill referring to direct aid to municipalities, likely to had been passed under Scott if I'm guessing correctly.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

I don't mean to overburden the Governor, but we should also try to determine how much is currently in the Disaster Relief Fund.

Also, I have a few more questions:

What does "tax expenditures" refer to?

What specifically is entailed in "direct aid and incentives to municipalities?"

Cincinnatus did some examination of the old budgets and estimated that there could be about $13 billion in the Disaster Relief Fund. There was one year where we appropriated 50% to the Disaster Relief Fund since the Capital Relocation Act failed, but some of that was probably depleted by Hurricane Sandy.

Most of the expenditures are (I believe) codified into law.

I believe Napoleon or Scott would be better equipped to answer the question wrt "direct aid and incentives to municipalities" as this was passed during my retirement.

I think we're bound by the current law to appropriate 20% of the surplus to the Disaster Relief Fund, though given the amount of money we have there we could amend the Budget Procedure to allow for flexibility in future sessions.

Also, given our past surplus (as well as any leftovers that sirnick alluded to) I think we have room for some tax relief, though I'd like to leave some of this surplus for my police camera program.

[Adam Griffin]

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--- $7.000 B from past budget surplus to Second NE Stimulus Act

 $6.766 B = final surplus from Nov-Feb FY2013 budget
     --> $1.353 B from remaining budget surplus to Emergency Fund

Expenditure Changes:

+ $0.570 B to Public Safety - NE Rehabilitation & Reform Act
+ $0.170 B to Economic Development-Community Development - NE Property Rights Act
- $1.520 B from School Aid-Elementary, Secondary & Vocational education - NE Education Improvement & Modernization Act
- $1.610 B from School Aid-Northeastern Higher Education Act - NE Education Improvement & Modernization Act
- $0.500 B from Economic Development-Area and regional development - NE Agricultural Subsidies Elimination Act

Revenue Changes:

+$0.880 B, income taxes
+$0.179 B, sales taxes
+$0.244 B, fuel taxes
+$0.760 B, tolls

[Deus Naturae]

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[sentinel]

@Deus -  You can't just cross stuff out. You need to investigate if there are laws requiring a minimum spending level on those items. Then you'd need to repeal them.

[Adam Griffin]

To be fair, I was about 5 seconds from doing that, too. Then, I did a quick search and found that there's a budget structure bill from 2010-11 that specified their inclusion. I didn't see any specific legislation that mandated the spending, but I could have missed something.

[sentinel]

To be fair, I was about 5 seconds from doing that, too. Then, I did a quick search and found that there's a budget structure bill from 2010-11 that specified their inclusion. I didn't see any specific legislation that mandated the spending, but I could have missed something.

That bill is why I replied

[Deus Naturae]

I this the bill you're referring to? Would it be possible to just include those things with funding levels of $0?

[sentinel]

I this the bill you're referring to? Would it be possible to just include those things with funding levels of $0?

You could, but these are things worth funding. Your question regarding general tax expenditures was a better question for the GM -- did you ever ask?

[Deus Naturae]

I this the bill you're referring to? Would it be possible to just include those things with funding levels of $0?

You could, but these are things worth funding. Your question regarding general tax expenditures was a better question for the GM -- did you ever ask?

What exactly would I ask?

[Deus Naturae]

To reiterate, here is the reasoning behind my proposed cuts to energy spending:

I assume that refitting government buildings was a one-time thing, so I think we can safely eliminate spending on that.

I also think we should consider eliminating, or at the very least reducing, alternative energy spending and loans. It is my impression (which would seem to be confirmed by the recent Senate debate on fracking) that alternative energy development has reached a far more advanced stage in Atlasia than it has irl. Assuming that alternative energy is a dominant energy source at this point, I see no reason to continue subsidizing it.

[Deus Naturae]

I plan to try and get rid of a few line items when Governor Dallasfan's budget procedure amendment is being debated, but for now I will withdraw my previous amendment and offer this one instead:

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