Senate Bill 495 Summary

• Creates a new Legislative Budget Agency as a nonpartisan agency to serve all legislature members, governed by a 6-member board including the senate majority/minority leaders, house speaker/minority leader, and chairs of both appropriations committees.

• Requires fiscal notes (written cost estimates) for any "fiscal bill" that creates more than minimal new costs to the state or local governments, with projections covering a 5-year period from the bill's effective date.

• Prohibits fiscal bills from advancing to third reading if the fiscal note concludes costs are indeterminate or cannot be reasonably estimated, except during declared states of emergency.

• Mandates that all fiscal bills receive fiscal notes and adequate review time before passage in either chamber, with the agency updating notes if amendments or substitutes are adopted.

• Requires the Legislative Budget Agency to prepare annual financial reports reconciling estimated costs from fiscal notes with actual costs incurred and providing updated 5-year cost projections to both appropriations committees.