Budget and Planning
Legislators consider many hundreds of bills during a typical biennial session of the General Assembly, but no legislation is more important to the operation of state government than the bills that compose the state budget.
It is through the enactment of these bills that the General Assembly is able to allocate the state's financial resources among the thousands of competing spending priorities.
Involvement in the budget process by the General Assembly is mandated by the Ohio Constitution, primarily by Article II, Section 22, which states:
No money shall be drawn from the state treasury, except in pursuance of a specific appropriation, made by law; and no appropriation shall be made for a longer period than two years.
Since a specific appropriation made by law is required in order to spend state money, the General Assembly, as the law-making branch of government, is an essential participant in spending decisions.
