2017 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 20. Appropriations and budget management.
20.002 General appropriation provisions.

20.002  General appropriation provisions.

(1)  Effective period of appropriations. Unless otherwise provided appropriations shall become effective on July 1 of the fiscal year shown in the schedule under s. 20.005 and shall be expendable until the following June 30. If the legislature does not amend or eliminate any existing appropriation on or before July 1 of the odd-numbered years, such existing appropriations provided for the previous fiscal year shall be in effect in the new fiscal year and all subsequent fiscal years until amended or eliminated by the legislature. If the biennial state budget has not been enacted on or before June 30 of the odd-numbered year, the department of administration may, for accounting purposes, adjust its appropriation account structure, beginning on July 1 of the odd-numbered year, to reflect the appropriation account structure in the biennial state budget.

(2) Accrued tax receipts.

(a) Solely for purposes of relating annual taxes to estimated expenses, amounts withheld under s. 71.64 prior to July 1 and taxes imposed by subch. III of ch. 77 for periods ending prior to July 1 shall be deemed accrued tax receipts as of the close of the fiscal year but no revenue shall be deemed accrued tax receipts unless deposited by the state on or before the August 15 following the end of the fiscal year. Solely for purposes of relating annual taxes to estimated expenses, fees imposed under subch. II of ch. 77, taxes imposed under ss. 139.02, 139.03 (2m) and (2n), 139.31 and 139.76 and assessments imposed under s. 50.14 (2) shall be deemed accrued tax receipts as of the close of the fiscal year, but no revenue shall be deemed accrued tax receipts unless deposited by this state on or before July 31.

(b) Solely for purposes of relating annual taxes to estimated expenses, revenue received in July because of a cash purchase of stamps under s. 139.31 shall be deemed accrued tax receipts as of the close of the previous fiscal year, but no revenue shall be deemed accrued tax receipts unless it is deposited by this state on or before July 31.

(3) Payments from repealed appropriations. Where any appropriation is repealed or any balance of an appropriation is caused to revert, any indebtedness incurred under the authority of such appropriation or balance prior to the time as of which such repeal or reversion of balance is to take effect, shall be paid from the appropriation or balance thus repealed or reverted unless otherwise specifically provided by law.

(3m) Repealed appropriations. Whenever an appropriation is repealed, on the effective date of the repeal the unencumbered balance of the appropriation lapses to the fund from which it was appropriated unless otherwise provided by law. If the act repealing an appropriation provides for any part of the balance in the appropriation account to be transferred to a different appropriation account on the same effective date as the repeal, the transfer shall be effected before the lapse.

(4) Prior debts prohibited. No appropriation shall be available for payment of any indebtedness incurred prior to the time such appropriation is to take effect unless otherwise specifically provided by law.

(5) Conditional appropriations. All appropriations to any department, expenditures from which, by law, may be made only with the approval of the governor or the secretary of administration, shall be construed to be conditional appropriations, which shall become available only as contemplated expenditures therefrom are approved by these officers, as required by law.

(6) Unused appropriations. Whenever a continuing appropriation from any fund has accomplished its purpose or is no longer deemed necessary for such purpose, the secretary of administration is authorized to lapse such appropriation balance, in whole or in part, to the fund from which appropriated upon consultation with the director of the state agency concerned.

(7) Appropriation detail. The detailed explanation of the appropriations made to the several state agencies, including specific program purposes and restrictions, is contained in ss. 20.115 to 20.875. Except as otherwise provided in ss. 20.115 to 20.875, whenever the amounts in the schedule for a single appropriation are shown in 2 or more lines the portions of the total amount shown on separate lines are for informational purposes only and are not limiting. All appropriations shall be made from the general fund, unless otherwise indicated. Whenever the text in ss. 20.115 to 20.875 refers to “schedule" it means the appropriation schedule under s. 20.005 (3).

(8) Federal reduction or termination; effect. All appropriations made in this chapter are subject to the specific provision that when and if the federal government funding of any portion of a program is reduced or terminated, state participation in the program may be reduced by the governor in the same proportion as such federal reduction, such state reduction to be implemented by the responsible state agency. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the statutes, local units of government are hereby authorized to make similar proportionate reductions in their support of such programs.

(9) Federal revenue sharing. Revenue received in July of any year under the federal state and local fiscal assistance act, relating to the revenue due for the quarter ending on the previous June 30, shall be deemed accrued receipts as of the close of the fiscal year.

(10) Excess state matching funds. If any appropriation that is made to match or secure federal funds is in excess of the amount required to match or secure federal funds, the state agency that is responsible for the administration of such funds shall promptly notify the federal aid management service of the department of administration which shall promptly notify the governor and the joint committee on finance. Such funds shall then be placed in unallotted reserve and may not be released unless the release is first approved by the joint committee on finance.

(11) Temporary reallocation of surplus moneys.

(a) All appropriations, special accounts and fund balances within the general fund or any segregated fund may be made temporarily available for the purpose of allowing encumbrances or financing expenditures of other general or segregated fund activities or for the purpose of financing unemployment insurance benefits from the unemployment reserve fund under par. (b) 3m. whenever there are insufficient moneys in the funds or accounts from which the activities are financed or whenever there are insufficient moneys in the unemployment reserve fund to pay unemployment insurance benefit payments if there are accounts receivable balances or moneys anticipated to be received from lottery proceeds, as defined in s. 25.75 (1) (c), tax or contribution revenues, gifts, grants, fees, sales of service, or interest earnings recorded under s. 16.52 (2) that will be sufficient to repay the fund or account from which moneys are transferred. The secretary of administration shall determine the composition and allowability of the accounts receivable balances and anticipated moneys to be received for this purpose in accordance with s. 20.903 (2) and shall specifically approve the use of surplus moneys from the general or segregated funds after consultation with the appropriate state agency head for use by specified accounts or programs. The secretary of administration shall reallocate available moneys from the budget stabilization fund under s. 16.465 prior to reallocating moneys from any other fund.

(b)

1. Except with respect to reallocations made under subd. 3m., the secretary of administration shall limit the total amount of any temporary reallocations to a fund other than the general fund to $400,000,000.

2. Except as provided in subd. 3, the secretary of administration shall limit the total amount of any temporary reallocations to the general fund at any one time during a fiscal year to an amount equal to 9 percent of the total amounts shown in the schedule under s. 20.005 (3) of appropriations of general purpose revenues, calculated by the secretary as of that time and for that fiscal year.

3. In addition to the amount permitted for temporary reallocations in subd. 2., the secretary may permit an additional 3 percent of the total amounts shown in the schedule under s. 20.005 (3) of appropriations of general purpose revenues, calculated by the secretary as of that time and for that fiscal year, to be used for temporary reallocations to the general fund but only if the reallocation is for a period not to exceed 30 days. Reallocations may not be made under this subdivision for consecutive periods.

3m. Upon request of the secretary of workforce development under s. 108.16 (13), the secretary of administration may temporarily transfer moneys available under par. (a) to the unemployment reserve fund. The secretary of administration shall credit repayments received from the unemployment reserve fund to the funds or accounts from which the transfer was made. The transfers outstanding under this subdivision may not exceed a total of $50,000,000 at any time. No transfer may be made under this subdivision unless the secretary of administration first submits written notice to the cochairpersons of the joint committee on finance that the transfer is proposed to be made. If the cochairpersons of the committee do not notify the secretary of administration that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed transfer within 30 days after the date of the secretary's notification, the transfer may be made as proposed by the secretary. If, within 30 days after the date of notification by the secretary of administration, the cochairpersons of the committee notify the secretary that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the proposed transfer, the transfer may be made under this subdivision only upon approval of the committee.

4. This paragraph does not apply to reallocations from the budget stabilization fund to the general fund.

(c) The secretary may assess a special interest charge against the programs or activities utilizing surplus moneys within the same fund under this subsection in an amount not to exceed the daily interest earnings rate of the state investment fund during the period of transfer of surplus moneys to other accounts or programs. Except as provided in s. 16.465 and except with respect to transfers made under par. (b) 3m., the secretary shall assess a special interest charge against the fund utilizing surplus moneys under this subsection in an amount equal to the rate of return the state investment fund earnings would have created to the fund from which the reallocation was made. This interest shall be calculated and credited to the appropriate fund at the same time the earnings from the state investment fund are distributed and shall be considered an adjustment to those earnings.

(d) Except with respect to transfers made under par. (b) 3m., this subsection applies only to those funds participating in the investment fund for purposes of temporary reallocation between funds or accounts. No transfer may be made under this subsection from any of the following funds or specified accounts in these funds:

1. The bond security and redemption fund under s. 18.09.

2. The capital improvement fund under s. 18.08.

2m. The election administration fund.

3. The industrial building construction loan fund under s. 560.10, 2005 stats.

4. All trust funds authorized under ch. 40.

5. The veterans trust fund under s. 25.36.

6. The state housing authority reserve fund under s. 25.41.

7. The fish and wildlife account within the conservation fund.

(e) The secretary of administration may not exercise the authority granted in this subsection if a temporary reallocation would jeopardize the cash flow of any fund or account from which a temporary reallocation would be made.

(f) If the secretary of administration exercises or proposes to exercise the authority granted in this subsection, he or she shall publish and transmit a report to the chief clerk of each house of the legislature, for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under s. 13.172 (3), on a monthly basis specifying the date, amount, source and use of any outstanding temporary reallocation or proposed reallocation of moneys for the period covered by the report.

(12) Suspension of expenditures. No moneys may be expended by any state agency, except the legislature or courts, for permanent, project, part-time or limited term employment if the funding for the position has been temporarily withheld under s. 16.50 (3).

(13) Indian grants. Notwithstanding any statute to the contrary, wherever any law authorizes a grant of state funds to be made by a state agency to any county, city, village or town for any purpose, funds may also be granted by that state agency to any federally recognized tribal governing body for the same purpose. The grants are subject to the same conditions and restrictions as apply to grants to counties and municipalities, if any. This subsection shall not be construed to require any grant of state funds to be made to any federally recognized tribal governing body.

20.002 History