27-103-129 - Budget requests; contents of request; detailed justification for vehicle purchase required; emergency requests for vehicle purchases; agency reports of vehicles in possession; exemptions. - Mississippi Statutes

§ 27-103-129. Budget requests; contents of request; detailed justification for vehicle purchase required; emergency requests for vehicle purchases; agency reports of vehicles in possession; exemptions.
 

(1)  To enable the Legislative Budget Office to prepare such budget, it shall have full and plenary power and authority to require all general-fund and special-fund agencies and the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Division of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation to file a budget request with such information and in such form and in such detail as it may deem necessary and advisable, and it shall have the further power and authority to reduce or eliminate any item or items of requested appropriation by any state agency in the Legislative Budget Office's recommended budget to the Legislature. However, where any item of requested appropriation shall be so reduced or eliminated, the head of the agency involved shall have the right to appear before the appropriate legislative committee to urge a revision of the budget to restore the item reduced or eliminated. Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall include a definition of the mission of the agency, a description of the duties and responsibilities of the agency, financial data relative to the various programs operated by the agency and performance measures associated with each program of the agency. The performance measures to be contained within the agency budget request shall be developed by cooperative efforts of the Legislative Budget Office, the Department of Finance and Administration and the agency itself and shall be approved jointly by the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration prior to inclusion within the agency budget request. Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall also include in an addendum format a five-year strategic plan for the agency which shall include, but not be limited to, the following items of information: 

(a) A comprehensive mission statement, 

(b) Performance effectiveness objectives for each program of the agency for each of the five (5) years covered by the plan, 

(c) A description of significant external factors which may affect the projected levels of performance, 

(d) A description of the agency's internal management system utilized to evaluate its performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels, 

(e) An evaluation by the agency of the agency's performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels for the two (2) preceding fiscal years for which accounting records have been finalized. 

(2)  All agencies enumerated in subsection (1) of this section shall include in their budget requests the following information regarding contract workers for the most recently completed fiscal year: 

(a) The name of each worker; 

(b) The specific type of services provided; 

(c) Hourly rate of compensation, or the basis for compensation if a rate other than the hourly rate is used; 

(d) Total gross salary or wages paid; and 

(e) Whether the worker is a retired member of the Public Employees' Retirement System. 

(3) (a)  In addition to any other information required by law, each state agency, general-fund agency and special-fund agency, as defined in Section 27-103-103, desiring to purchase any vehicle as defined by this section shall submit as part of its budget request to the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration a detailed justification for the proposed purchase. The Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration shall jointly prescribe the forms and formats to be used by agencies making the requests. Such forms shall require, at minimum, the following information: 

(i) The kind of vehicle to be purchased; 

(ii) The person to whom the vehicle will be assigned and the employment responsibilities of that person which necessitate a state-owned vehicle; 

(iii) Whether the vehicle is a work vehicle or passenger vehicle; and 

(iv) If the vehicle is assigned to a pool and not an individual, the purposes for which the pool vehicle is assigned and the names of the anticipated users of the pool vehicle. 

(b) The Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration shall offer a recommendation to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on all agency requests for vehicles. In making the recommendation, the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration may consider break-even analyses for the kind of vehicle requested, the travel patterns of the person for whom the vehicle shall be acquired, and shall determine if there exists surplus vehicles in the possession of other agencies that could be used as a substitute for a new vehicle and why such vehicle should not be used. Beginning July 1, 2007, the purchase of vehicles by an agency shall be a specific line item in the agency's appropriation bill. 

(c) If an agency determines that an urgent need exists for a vehicle when it is not feasible to obtain prior legislative approval, the agency may make an emergency request to the Bureau of Fleet Management. Any emergency determination shall be made only upon the existence of extraordinary circumstances. The Bureau of Fleet Management shall make a recommendation to the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration and shall give notification of such recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House and the Chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Appropriations Committees. The Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration shall have the final authority to approve or disapprove the emergency request. The executive director must set forth specific reasons for approval which shall be a public record. If approved and if adequate funding is available, the agency may purchase a specific vehicle to meet its specific emergency needs. The Bureau of Fleet Management shall report any emergency purchase to the Legislative Budget Office. Any such vehicle shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as provided for nonemergency vehicles. 

(d) For purposes of subsections (3) and (4) of this section, the term "passenger vehicle" shall mean a vehicle used primarily in transporting agency personnel and the agency's equipment from one location to another. This term shall include only those vehicles for which a license plate or tag is required under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972. 

(e) For purposes of subsections (3) and (4) of this section, the term "work vehicle" shall mean a vehicle used primarily to perform a work assignment or task while incidentally transporting agency personnel and agency equipment from one location to another. This term shall include only those vehicles for which a license plate or tag is required under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972. 

(4)  All state agencies, special-fund agencies and general-fund agencies making budget requests under the authority of this section shall include with their budget requests a report of all passenger and work vehicles in their possession. Such report shall detail the persons to whom the vehicles are assigned and the purposes for the vehicles. 

(5)  Subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall not apply to any vehicle assigned to a sworn officer of the Department of Public Safety and used in undercover operations. 

(6)  The provisions of subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall not apply to any state institution of higher learning. 

(7)  Beginning July 1, 2007, the purchase of wireless communication devices as defined in Section 25-53-191 by any state agency, special-fund agency or general-fund agency making budget requests under the authority of this section shall be a specific line item in the agency's appropriation bill. 
 

Sources: Laws,  1984, ch. 488, § 69; Laws, 1986, ch. 500, § 10; Laws, 1994, ch. 602, § 2; Laws, 2006, ch. 476, § 1; Laws, 2006, ch. 537, § 3, eff from and after July 1, 2006.