Section 6. The budget director shall study and review all estimates and requests for appropriations and other authorizations for expenditures of state funds filed with the budget director as provided by sections 3 and 4, and shall make such investigations as will enable the budget director to prepare an operating budget for the governor, setting forth such recommendations as the governor shall determine. The governor may call upon the comptroller for information relative to finances and for assistance in the preparation of the operating budget. The operating budget shall embody all estimates, requests and recommendations for appropriations, distributions of state revenues and other authorizations for expenditures by the commonwealth under existing law, other than for capital facility projects and prior-year appropriations, but including those from retained revenue line-items and those from federal grants, as submitted by each officer having charge of any state agency which receives a periodic appropriation from the commonwealth. The budget recommendations of the governor shall not assume future continuing appropriation of the unspent balances of current or previous appropriations.

The operating budget shall be set out under section 6D and classified and designated so as to show separately estimates and recommendations for: (a) expenses for administration, operation and maintenance; (b) deficiencies or surpluses in appropriations for former years; (c) interest on the public debt and sinking fund and serial bond requirements; and (d) all requests and proposals for expenditures for new programs and other undertakings; and shall include in detail definite recommendations of the governor relative to the amounts which should be appropriated therefor. The operating budget shall show the estimated state revenue of each state agency. The operating budget shall indicate the number of positions proposed to be authorized for each state agency or such other public instrumentality for the ensuing fiscal year, the number of positions for each state agency in the current and ensuing fiscal years and such other information as may be held to explain the anticipated results of the proposed appropriations.