Vetoed Budget Tracking Act

[Izzibaby]

A
Bill
To
Properly keep track of Departments' Spending Habits in reference to their budget assigned.

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives and Senators in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
This Act may be cited as the "Budget Tracking Act".
This Act shall be enacted 2 weeks after its signage, to give departments preparation.
This Bill was authored by Izzibaby.
This Bill has been co-signed by: Senator DrThunder.

2 - Reasons

1. The initial thought of this bill was brought up during an incident in which the DCT went over budget nearly by 200k in the month of February. The shocking part is, the thing that brought forth the investigation on the manner, bonuses equating to 100k, wasn’t the only thing over budget. After further research, the department had been over budget before, having gone unnoticed due to a lack of tracking of their budget.
2. This will encourage the use of the Accountant profession within DemocracyCraft, to specifically track spending habits, and report on the amount spent, and funds remaining in a bi-weekly manner if the Secretary wishes to pass that responsibility onto an Accountant/Accounting Company.

3 - Budget

1. It is highly encouraged, for all Departments current, and future, which take in fees, fines, or profit in any manner, or Departments with Budgets amounting to over 100,000 allotted, to equip their Department with an Accountant to ensure a separation of expenditures, and profits within their balance, and proper tracking of Government Spending. This position is to assist with Reports made, along with any financial advisory the Secretary may need for the operation of the Department.
2. The current way for Departments and Congress to track the spending of a Department is through the unfines within the #budget channel. Department Secretaries, or the designated Department Accountant, will be able to give the bi-weekly reports, on the 1st and 15th of every month, on spending habits within the #budget channels in the form of a New Thread for each report.
3. Reports are to follow a simple template,

[NAME OF DEPARTMENT] [DATE] Report
[Categories of Budget] [How much Spent within the Budget Overall] [How many funds remaining] [Total allotted within budget]
[Any Profit Made outside of Money Spent]
[Screenshot of Department’s in-game balance]

Example:

Department of Construction and Transportation | March 14th, 2023 Report
Constructor Remuneration: $20,000 Spent | $80,000 Remaining | Allotted Total: $100,000
Inspector Commissions: $40500 Spent | $9,500 Remaining | Allotted Total: $50,000
Employee Bonuses: $10,000 Spent | $0 Remaining | Allotted Total: $10,000
Profits: $8,600

3. If a Motion to Fund, occurs, which gives additional allotted funds for a Department, it is to be included in the report within the [Total allotted within budget], separated by the total budget with an addition sign,​

Example:
The Department of Construction and Transportation is given additional funds for Inspector Commissions amounting to $10,000. The report should show,

Inspector Commissions: $40500 Spent | $9,500 Remaining | Allotted Total: $50,000 + $10,000

4 - Failure to Report

1. The Department is given one week after a bi-weekly period, to give the report on that period’s spending.
2. In the case that after the week has passed, and no report is made, the Department in question’s Secretary is to be fined $100 per day, until the report is passed. Those fines are to be sent to the Government Balance.
3. If the Secretary is unwilling/unable to provide the report, they are to hire an Accountant to do the job, which they are to notify they're actively seeking an Accountant, and are given a grace period of one report period without fines to obtain and fill that position. That does not exclude them from reporting upon the missed report period.

 

[Twixted]

Veto

This bill is hereby vetoed and not signed into law.

I am all for budget transparency, but this just places an unnecessary burden on our secretaries when the #budget channel already exists to track all spending and #congress-cabinet and #oversight exist to inquire about specific transactions.