ABSTRACT
Budget changes typically show stabilized, predictable change paths. Three main budget actors drive budget choices, especially at the national and state levels: agencies in the executive branches, chief executive officers or their central budget offices and legislatures. Agency budgeters in the executive branches have superior knowledge of the true costs of their agency programs as well as programmatic details. Several major empirical studies have investigated the interactions among agencies, chief executive officers and central budget offices and legislatures. Budget reviewers were more likely to focus on the budget increment that was marginally different from the current budgets rather than on the sheer size of agency budget requests, substantial portions of which were the budget base. Based on 2000-2001 surveys, Goodman found that state legislatures' enhanced capacity regarding budget information and agenda increased legislative budget power, based on surveys spanning from 1978 to 1998 reported that legislatures have gained more budget power which can be attributable to some political changes.
