District of Columbia Budget Accountability Act of 2014

“446. Enactment of local budget by District of Columbia

“(a) Adoption of budgets and supplements—The Council, within 70 calendar days after receipt of the budget proposal from the Mayor, and after public hearing, shall by Act adopt the annual budget for the District of Columbia government. Any supplements thereto shall also be adopted by Act of the Council after public hearing.

“(b) Transmission to President during control years—In the case of a budget for a fiscal year which is a control year, the budget so adopted shall be submitted by the Mayor to the President for transmission by the President to the Congress, except that the Mayor shall not transmit any such budget, or amendments or supplements thereto, to the President until the completion of the budget procedures contained in this Act and the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995.

“(c) Prohibiting obligations and expenditures not authorized under budget—Except as provided in section 445A(b), section 446B, section 467(d), section 471(c), section 472(d)(2), section 475(e)(2), section 483(d), and subsections (f), (g), (h)(3), and (i)(3) of section 490, no amount may be obligated or expended by any officer or employee of the District of Columbia government unless—

“(1) such amount has been approved by an Act of the Council (and then only in accordance with such authorization) and such Act has been transmitted by the Chairman to the Congress and has completed the review process under section 602(c)(3); or

“(2) in the case of an amount obligated or expended during a control year, such amount has been approved by an Act of Congress (and then only in accordance with such authorization).

“(d) Restrictions on reprogramming of amounts—After the adoption of the annual budget for a fiscal year (beginning with the annual budget for fiscal year 1995), no reprogramming of amounts in the budget may occur unless the Mayor submits to the Council a request for such reprogramming and the Council approves the request, but only if any additional expenditures provided under such request for an activity are offset by reductions in expenditures for another activity.

“(e) Definition—In this part, the term control year has the meaning given such term in section 305(4) of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995.”

“(d) Except as provided in subsection (f), the Council shall not transmit an Act under section 446(a) which is not balanced according to the provisions of subsection (c).”

“(3) In the case of any Act transmitted under the first sentence of paragraph (1) to which section 446 applies and for which the fiscal year involved is not a control year, such Act shall take effect upon the expiration of the 30-calendar-day period beginning on the day such Act is transmitted, or upon the date prescribed by such Act, whichever is later, except as follows:

“(A) If such 30-day period expires and if either chamber has not been in session for at least 5 calendar days during such period, the effective date period applicable under this paragraph shall be extended for 5 additional days.

“(B) If during the period described in subparagraph (A), a joint resolution disapproving such Act has passed both Houses of Congress and has been transmitted to the President, such resolution, upon becoming law, subsequent to the expiration of such period, shall be deemed to have repealed such Act, as of the date such resolution becomes law. The provisions of section 604 shall apply with respect to any joint resolution disapproving any Act pursuant to this subparagraph.”