Question 136

Does the legislature or the relevant legislative committee(s) hold public hearings and/or use other participation mechanisms through which the public can provide input during its public deliberations on the formulation of the annual budget (pre-budget and/or approval stages)?
 * a. Yes, public hearings on the budget are held, and members of the public/CSOs testify.
 * b. Yes, public hearings on the budget are held. No testimony from the public is provided during the public hearings, but contributions from the public are received through other means.
 * c. Yes, public hearings on the budget are held. No testimony from the public is provided during the public hearings, and there are no other mechanisms through which public contributions are received, but the legislature invites specific individuals or groups to testify or provide input (participation is not, in practice, open to everyone).
 * d. The requirements for a “c” response or above are not met.
 * e. Not applicable (please comment).

OBS Guidelines
This question reflects the GIFT principle on “Sustainability,” “Transparency,” and “Complementarity” and assesses the extent to which the participation mechanism(s) used by the legislative are interactive and involve a two-way conversation between citizens and the legislature, rather than being limited to allowing the public to attend or hear public budget deliberations.

Please consider participation mechanisms that the legislature (both in its whole institution or its relevant budget/public accounts/finance committees) has put in place and is using to allow the public to participate in their deliberations on the annual budget. This includes deliberations during the pre-budget phase (i.e., when the executive is still in the process of formulating the draft budget) and the budget discussions after the budget has been tabled to parliament and before it is approved. In the comment box, please specify during which stage of the budget cycle the legislature has put in place a public participation mechanism.

Mechanisms through which members of the public reach out to individual Members of Parliament as opposed to the legislature (both in its whole institution or its relevant budget/public accounts/finance committees) or unofficial hearings organized by a subset of committee members should not be considered in answering this question.

If there is more than one mechanism, please select a mechanism that best shows/reflects the legislature’s efforts to incorporate citizens into the formulation of the annual budget. The participation mechanisms can involve a range of different issues, such as revenues, policy selection, and macro-fiscal planning (please note that the issue of coverage is covered in a subsequent question).

To answer “a,” the legislature must hold public hearings where citizens are allowed to testify. This answer applies only if the legislature does not exercise discretion in determining which citizens and/or CSOs can testify (for example, participation takes place on a first-come-first-served basis).

Answer “b” should be selected if the following applies:
 * The legislature holds public hearings on the budget;
 * Testimony is not allowed from members of the public or CSOs; but
 * There are other means used by the legislature to receive and collect views from citizens and CSOs on the budget, and the legislature does not exercise discretion in determining which citizens and/or CSOs can provide input. The researcher must provide evidence to support the presence of those alternative processes through which the legislature seeks inputs from citizens. For example, there should be a public record indicating that views from citizens and the public were sought.

Answer “c” should be selected if the following applies:
 * The legislature holds public hearings on the budget;
 * Testimony is not allowed from members of the public or CSOs;
 * No other means are used by the legislature to receive and collect views/input from citizens and CSOs on the budget, but
 * The legislature invites a few individuals/groups to provide input (through public hearings or elsewhere).
 * The legislature has a provision (via standing orders or in law) through which the public can submit their inputs, and members of the public or CSOs actively use it to submit opinions on the budget.

Answer “d” applies if the requirements for a “c” response or above are not met or if the legislature does not use public participation mechanisms during its deliberations on the annual budget.

(1) How do we score this question when faced with a lack of evidence?
Legislatures are generally open for anyone who may want to attend public hearings. However, it is not standard practice in many countries to post an agenda for hearings, a timetable or publish transcripts of meetings.

In OBS 2017, researchers struggled to provide any evidence that there were legislative hearings on the budget and if individuals were invited to testify. We agreed that in such cases, we will allow researchers to score “c” on Question 136 based on general evidence and laws that allow legislature and legislative committees to hold public hearings and invite stakeholders to testify, but “d” in Question 137 asking about coverage of topics.