Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - Operations Manual

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Chapter 2 – Fiscal Management

Article 1 – Budget Planning

Revised April 25, 2001

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21010.6 Requesting Budgetary Resources

  • The following are standardized processes used to request budgetary resources:

    • Policy Budget Change Proposal

      • The BCPBudget Change Proposal process is used to request the increase, decrease, or redirection of resources due to changes in existing programs, departmentwide problems, policies, procedures, mandates, increase or decrease in workload, etc.  Based on direction provided by the DOFDepartment Of Finance through the annual budget policy letter, the Office of Fisal Services (OFSOffice of Fiscal Services) issues instructions annually to set forth overall budgetary policies and the BCPBudget Change Proposal process and timelines.

        • The BCPBudget Change Proposal process usually starts with the Budget Concept Statement (BCSBudget Concept Statement), which is an internal departmental process.  BCPs have to be clear, concise, direct, and supported with factual statements and workload data.  Approval of this request by the Governor and the Legislature will address changes in resources for the budget year.  Current year resource changes will be addressed in either a deficiency request, changes to federal funding levels, or changes to reimbursements, as appropriate.

        • BCPs containing information technology (ITInformation Technology) components related to ITInformation Technology projects, generally must secure Department of Information Technology approval of the related Feasibility Study Report or Special Project Report prior to submission to the DOFDepartment Of Finance.  These BCPs are subject to the same DOFDepartment Of Finance submittal deadlines.

        • For BCPs that are tied to a Capital Outlay project, program staff need to coordinate with the Capital Outlay staff to include information that is consistant with the Capital Outlay BCPBudget Change Proposal.

        • If a requesting program’s BCPBudget Change Proposal affects other administrative or operational entities within the Department, the requesting program must contact the affected entity(s) for input on whether additional resources are needed to offset the workload.  The requesting program shall coordinate the inclusion of any identified resources into the BCPBudget Change Proposal.

        • If a BCPBudget Change Proposal affects another state agency, program staff must contact the other agency to ensure that they concur and will not be in opposition of the BCPBudget Change Proposal.  When sending BCPBudget Change Proposal related documentation to another state agency, the following statement is to be included on all correspondence: “CONFIDENTIAL: DO NOT FORWARD OROffice of Research DUPLICATE EXCEPT TO AUTHORIZED STAFF.”

    • Responsibility for BCPs

      • Individuals who direct the preparation and submission of BCPs are as follows:

        • Deputy Director, OFSOffice of Fiscal Services.

        • Undersecretaries

        • Program Directors.

    • Population Budget Change Proposal

      • A Population Budget Change Proposal (POP BCPBudget Change Proposal) is processed every year, starting in September, to address changes in resources as a result of projected inmate and parolee population changes in both the current and budget years.

    • Population Projections Fall and Spring

      • Utilizing the projections issued by the Office of Research (OROffice of Research), and the construction schedule issued by the Facility Planning, Construction and Management Division, the program support unit of the Division of Adult Institutions schedules the placement of inmates in what is known as the “Institution Activation Schedule.”  Based on this schedule, the OROffice of Research issues the following projections in September or October and updates them in February or March of each fiscal year (July 1 to June 30):

        • Preliminary estimates of prison and parole populations for the preparation of the budget which becomes effective July 1 of the following year.

        • Revised population estimates for the current fiscal year.

    • Finance Letter

      • This is an emergency Policy BCPBudget Change Proposal request for unforeseeable events that arise after the Governor has submitted the budget request to the Legislature or a proposal to refine or adjust a BCPBudget Change Proposal that was included in the January 10 budget.  Finance Letters are usually submitted in February.  Approval of this request by the DOFDepartment Of Finance will revise the budget previously submitted to the Legislature in January.

    • May Revise

      • A BCPBudget Change Proposal submitted to the DOFDepartment Of Finance by April 1 and then to the Legislature by May 14 requests augmentation to the Governor’s Budget for the inmate and parolee population  change in both current and budget years.  This document is submitted in the Spring as a revision to the budget previously submitted to the Legislature in January.

    • Deficiency Requests

      • The deficiency request allows departments to add monies to their budget in the current year to address immediate program changes (i.e., population increases).  The request is to be submitted as soon as the need is identified for unforeseen and significant costs over and above what is in the budget.  The deficiency request is submitted by the BMBBudget Management Branch to the DOFDepartment Of Finance, Governor, and the Legislature for approval.

        • The deficiency process is also used to recover those funds spent during an emergency, which cannot be absorbed by existing resources.  The Secretary has defined an emergency as a sudden, unexpected occurrence that poses a clear and imminent danger requiring immediate action to prevent or mitigate the loss or impairment of life, health, property, or essential public services.

        • An emergency has to be an event of large magnitude and severe impact, such as, but not limited to, earthquake, flood, tornadoes, major riots, severe and prolonged disruption of utilities, etc.  Only in extreme emergencies are departments allowed to incur expenditures prior to securing the proper funding.

        • Such expenditures still need to be submitted by the BMBBudget Management Branch to the DOFDepartment Of Finance, Governor, and the Legislature for approval.  Therefore, managers need to immediately, within the next business day of the emergency, notify their chain of command and the BMBBudget Management Branch of the emergency and, at the end of the emergency, submit to the BMBBudget Management Branch an expenditure report of all costs incurred.

        • Once the BMBBudget Management Branch validates that those costs meet the requirements of an emergency, it will immediately notify the Office of the Secretary and the DOFDepartment Of Finance of its intent to file for a deficiency if the costs cannot be absorbed.

    • Approval Process

      • All budgetary requests will be forwarded to the BMBBudget Management Branch for approval prior to final submittal to the DOFDepartment Of Finance in compliance with State Administrative Manual (SAMState Administrative Manual) Section 6120.