What is Happening?

The Process Explained

1. The governor makes a proposal for the budget, based on requests from state agencies, that is sent to the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) to mark up with alterations.
2. Identical copies of the JAC's draft are sent to the House and Senate. Each chamber can amend the JAC's budget draft over the course of 2nd and 3rd reading. The House and Senate may end up with very different budget bills.
3. To reconcile these differences, the House and Senate will create a Joint Conference Committee. The JCC negotiates until they agree on a single, unified budget bill.
4. This unified bill is sent back to the House and Senate one more time for a concurrence vote. This means each chamber agrees to the reconciled budget bill.
5. Finally, the governor can sign the proposal or line-item veto parts of the budget bill.