9-2-1012. Duties of budget division; transmittal of standard budget and manual; return of completed exception and expanded budgets; submission to governor; disposition of excess general fund appropriations; submission of selected budget information to joint appropriations interim committee.

(a) The department through the budget division shall transmit a standard budget and a manual of instruction for the preparation of exception and expanded budgets to entities on or before August 15 of odd numbered years. On or before September 15 of odd numbered years entities shall return the completed exception and expanded budgets.

(b) The director of the department and administrator of the budget division after compiling the requested budget estimates and related information collected from the several agencies of the state shall submit the overall state budget estimate and related information along with their comments and recommendations to the governor no later than November 1 of each budget period.

(c) The governor may, upon examining the budget estimates and requests and after consultation with each agency, approve, disapprove, alter or revise the estimates in accordance with applicable state and federal laws.

(d) The governor through the department may provide for public hearings on any and all agency estimates or requests or other fiscal matters and may require the attendance at such hearings of representatives of the agencies.

(e) In preparing the overall state budget for distribution to the legislature, including any supplemental, budget shortfall or other emergency changes to the budget, the governor shall recommend to the legislature that not less than five percent (5%) of estimated general fund receipts for the next biennial budget period shall be appropriated from the general fund to the budget reserve account within the earmarked fund. This appropriation shall be in addition to any fund balance within the budget reserve account. At the end of each biennial budget period, general fund appropriations for the biennium in excess of expenditures including encumbrances during the biennium, as identified by the state auditor in accordance with the provisions of W.S. 9-2-1008 and 9-4-207, shall be transferred into the budget reserve account. All funds in the budget reserve account shall be invested by the state treasurer and earnings therefrom shall be credited into the general fund. Appropriations to the account shall not lapse at the end of any fiscal period. Expenditures from the budget reserve account shall be by legislative appropriation only.

(f) In addition to subsection (b) of this section and not later than October 1 of each odd-numbered year, the administrator of the budget division shall file with the legislative service office a copy of the base budget, standard budget estimate and accompanying base budget forms required under W.S. 9-2-1011(c) for each entity. The legislative service office shall provide copies of the information filed under this subsection to the joint appropriations interim committee.

(g) The state employee compensation commission shall submit to the budget division and the joint appropriations interim committee within the time periods specified in subsection (a) of this section its recommendations regarding state employee compensation. The budget division and department shall consider those recommendations in developing budgets and submitting recommendations to the governor pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. When distributing the overall state budget to the legislature, the governor shall summarize the manner in which the proposed budget addresses the recommendations of the state employee compensation commission.

(h) If the governor exercises his authority provided by W.S. 9-2-1022(a)(xi)(F)(VI) to create an at-will employment contract position, the governor shall seek continued authorization for that position by a budget request in the next session of the legislature. If authorization for the at-will employee contract position is not specifically approved in the general appropriations bill, the position shall terminate and shall not be reauthorized in the future without prior legislative approval.