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Performance Budgeting: States' Experiences Can Inform Federal Efforts

GAO-05-215 Published: Feb 28, 2005. Publicly Released: Mar 14, 2005.
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Highlights

With a number of challenges facing the nation--including a long-term fiscal imbalance--agencies need to maximize their performance and leverage available resources and authorities to achieve maximum value while managing risk. Examining state efforts to increase the focus on performance and their experiences in responding to recent fiscal stress can offer insights into practices that may assist federal decision makers in addressing the challenges ahead. GAO described for five selected states--Arizona, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Washington--legislators' use of performance information in budget deliberations, how performance information helped to inform choices during fiscal stress, challenges these states face in implementing and sustaining their efforts, and the potential for state experiences to inform initiatives to improve the use of performance information at the federal level. Among other factors, these states were selected because they have established histories of performance budgeting efforts and represent a variety of approaches to implementing those efforts.

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Budget administrationBudgetingGovernment informationLegislative proceduresPerformance measuresState budgetsState legislationProductivity in governmentstate relationsPerformance-based budgeting