§ 309. Capital budget report

(a) Consolidated capital budget request. In addition to the general operating budget request to be submitted by the Governor to the General Assembly pursuant to this chapter, the Governor shall submit to the General Assembly, not later than the third Tuesday of every annual session, a consolidated capital budget request. In the first year of the biennium, the budget shall relate to the next two fiscal years. In the second year of the biennium, the budget shall relate primarily to the next fiscal year but may request amendments to the current or to previous fiscal years or refer to requests for future fiscal years. The request shall encompass all undertakings that may require State general obligation debt financing, including transportation projects as follows:

[Subdivision (a)(1) effective until July 1, 2020; see also subdivision (a)(1) effective July 1, 2020].

(1) Activities proposed for funding by general obligation debt financing shall be restricted to tangible capital investments, but may include the planning, design, and engineering directly associated with a tangible capital investment.

[Subdivision (a)(1) effective July 1, 2020; see also subdivision (a)(1) effective until July 1, 2020].

(1) Activities proposed for funding by general obligation debt financing shall be restricted to tangible capital investments, but may include the planning and design directly associated with a tangible capital investment.

(2) Proposed activities shall be further restricted to those capital expenses allowed under federal laws governing the use of State bond proceeds.

(3) The capital budget request shall be segmented by the expected functional life of proposed activities, and thus by a corresponding prudent use of either long-term bond issues with a customary 20-year payback period, or shorter-term bond issues with a lesser payback period.

(4) The capital budget shall not include requests for debt financing of state agency operating expenses not directly related to a capital investment as required hereinabove. The latter operating expenses shall be accounted for in the Governor's annual general operating budget request.

(b) Affordable bond authorization proposal. In the first year of the biennium, the annual capital budget request of the Governor shall include a statement of the total amount of new State tax supported general obligation debt the Governor considers advisable for the General Assembly to authorize for the next two fiscal years, after having considered the maximum amount recommended for the following fiscal year by the Capital Debt Affordability Advisory Committee as provided by subchapter 8 of chapter 13 of this title.

(c) Women employed on State capital construction projects. This State shall encourage an increase in workforce participation rates for women in all aspects of publicly funded capital construction projects for which monies are requested under this section and authorized by the General Assembly in the Capital Construction Act pursuant to section 701a of this title, including projects of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Trust.

(d) [Repealed.]

(e) Report duration. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to any report to be made under this section. (Added 1989, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1991, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. June 9, 1992; 1993, No. 59, § 21, eff. June 3, 1993; 1999, No. 29, § 42, eff. May 19, 1999; 2009, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 45, eff. June 4, 2010; 2011, No. 40, § 35, eff. May 20, 2011; 2011, No. 104 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. May 7, 2012; 2013, No. 1, § 96, eff. March 7, 2013; 2013, No. 1, § 97, eff. July 1, 2019; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 57; 2019, No. 14, § 72, eff. April 30, 2019.)