Governor's Proposal | December 17, 2025
The Governor submits a budget bill for consideration by the General Assembly in each December through a joint meeting of the House Appropriations, House Finance, and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees. In even year sessions, the Governor submits 2 budget bills for consideration by the General Assembly – a caboose budget amending the state’s current biennial budget and a new biennial budget for the next 2 years. In odd year sessions, the Governor submits 1 budget bill for consideration by the General Assembly – a bill amending the state’s current biennial budget.
Public Hearings | January 7, 2026
The House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees host joint regional hearings on the Governor’s ideas for spending from members of the public. You can sign up to speak for one of the regional public hearings here.
Member Amendments | January 16, 2026 by 5:00 PM
At the beginning of the legislative session, members submit spending and savings ideas for consideration by the House Appropriations Committee. The deadline for requesting funds in the state budget is set by committee Chairman but is usually 5pm on the first Friday of Session. Members request budget amendments by filling out the budget amendment request form and submitting them in person to committee staff on the 12th floor (Electronic submissions are not accepted). The budget amendment request form will be available here when it is made publicly available. Once member budget amendment requests are processed by Committee staff and approved by patrons, they will be available on the State Budget Website. No changes can be made to member requests after they are made publicly available.
Committee Review
The House Appropriations Subcommittees perform a review of proposals and recommend amendments to the budget bill to the full Committee. The Subcommittees can (1) accept or reject member amendments, (2) accept or reject Governor's ideas, and (3) can develop their own proposals. The Full Committee approves Subcommittee actions on budget report out day, which is held Sunday afternoon prior to floor debate on the budget. The approved Committee budget amendments will be on The State Budget Website.
Floor Action
The House Appropriations Committee’s adopted amendments become a single packet distributed to members 2 days prior to the budget debate on the floor. The amendments not objected to are usually voted on in block. Members can offer floor amendments, but these must fit within available resources. The ideas included in the Governor’s proposed bill that are not amended by the House stay in the budget bill and are never voted on individually.
Conference
The House and Senate appoint budget conferees to resolve differences between the Chambers' budgets. The deadline for the conference committee to resolve disagreements is midnight on the last Tuesday of session and the deadline for members to receive the details of the conference report is noon on the last Thursday of session (typically). The Conference report is sent back to both chambers for an up or down vote – meaning members cannot amend the conference report.
Final Review
The bill is sent to the Governor who has 30 days to review the bill and can send down vetoes or amendments to the budget during reconvened session. After the reconvened session, the Governor typically signs the budget into law.