Fiscal notes help track costs

Fiscal notes are attached to all bills that will have a financial impact on state or local governments.

The notes were created to prevent legislation from becoming law without knowing what it would cost the state or local governments.

The financial impact a bill will have on businesses or individuals is not considered in the notes.

The fiscal note was intended to give state and local agencies a chance to tell lawmakers what the cost of a bill would be before enacting it. But in many cases, fiscal notes are educated guesses and, occasionally, have been dramatically wrong.

Sometimes fiscal notes are offset by savings the bill will generate. Those savings are sometimes pointed out in the explanations agencies or legislative analysts attach to the fiscal note.

The note is divided into sections each containing a different entity's estimate.

Normally, the first estimate contains the projection of direct costs resulting from the bill to state agencies. The costs are listed by fiscal year. The final column, an important one to lawmakers, is labeled "Continuing." That is the ongoing annual costs that will never go away if the measure is passed.

Sometimes explanation sheets are attached by the agency.

Other sections of the fiscal note may be authored by the Department of Administration (Budget Office) or Legislative Counsel Bureau analysts themselves who often talk to local officials - including school districts - to see what cost a bill would have to those entities. Those sections too can have explanation sheets attached.

Entities such as the Public Employees Retirement System and Public Employee Benefits Program are occasionally consulted for potential impacts.