The proposed constitutional amendments (full text of measure) read as follows:
SECTION 1. The People of the State of California hereby find and declare all of the following:
(a) The executive and legislative branches of government of this state have become unable to prepare and approve a spending plan as required by the California Constitution. This inability to execute the most fundamental responsibility of state government has placed local governments and special districts in great chaos and risk.
(b) The California Constitution provides for 156 days to deliberate, discuss, and resolve issues that will lead to a spending plan for the ensuing fiscal year. Until that plan is adopted, consideration of any legislation of a routine nature that requires any monetary expenditure is superfluous and without merit.
(c) It is the intent of the People in adopting this measure to further the intent and purpose of the existing provisions in the California Constitution with respect to the enactment of the annual Budget Bill.
SEC. 2. Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution is amended to read:
SEC. 12. (a) Within the first 10 days of each calendar year, the Governor shall submit to the Legislature, with any explanatory message, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state revenues. If recommended expenditures exceed estimated revenues, the Governor shall recommend the sources from which the additional revenues should be provided.
(b) The Governor and the Governor-elect may require a state agency, officer, or employee to furnish whatever information is deemed necessary to prepare the budget.
(c) (1) The budget shall be accompanied by a budget bill itemizing recommended expenditures.
(2) The budget bill shall be introduced immediately in each house by the persons chairing the committees that consider the budget.
(3) The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each year.
(4) Until the budget bill has been enacted, the Legislature shall not send to the governor for consideration any bill appropriating funds for expenditure during the fiscal year for which the budget bill is to be enacted, except emergency bills recommended by the Governor or appropriations for the salaries and expenses of the Legislature, not including salaries, benefits, or travel and living expenses of Members of the Legislature.
(d) No bill except the budget bill may contain more than one item of appropriation, and that for one certain, expressed purpose. Appropriations from the General Fund of the State, except appropriations for the public schools, are void unless passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.
(e) The Legislature may control the submission, approval, and enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state agencies.
(f) For the 2004-2005 fiscal year, or any subsequent fiscal year, the Legislature may not send the Governor for consideration, nor may the Governor sign into law. a budget bill that would appropriate from the General Fund, for that fiscal year, a total amount that, when combined with all appropriations from the General Fund for that fiscal year made as of the date of the budget bill's passage, and the amount of any General Fund moneys transferred to the Budget Stabilization Account for that fiscal year pursuant to Section 20 of Article XVI, exceeds General Fund revenues for that fiscal year estimated as of the date of the budget bill's passage. That estimate of General Fund revenues shall be set forth in the budget bill passed by the Legislature.
(g) Notwithstanding Sections 4 and 8 of Article III and Section 4 of this article, in any year in which the budget bill is not enacted by midnight on June 30, the Governor and each member of the Legislature shall forfeit any salary, benefits, and reimbursement for travel or living expenses for the period from July 1 until the date the budget bill in enacted. No salaries, benefits, or reimbursements for travel or living expenses forfeited under this subdivision may be paid at any time. For purposes of this subdivision, 'budget bill' means a bill that makes appropriations for the support of the government of the State for the entire ensuing fiscal year.
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