PBS-2

When is the PBS made available to the public?
 * a. At least four months in advance of the budget year, and at least one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is introduced in the legislature
 * b. At least two months, but less than four months, in advance of the budget year, and at least one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is introduced in the legislature
 * c. Less than two months in advance of the budget year, but at least one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is introduced in the legislature
 * d. The PBS is not released to the public, or is released less than one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is introduced to the legislature

Guidelines
Publicly available budget documents are defined as those documents that are published on the website of the public authority issuing the document within the time frame specified in the OBS methodology and that all citizens are able to obtain free of charge. (See the Open Budget Survey Guidelines on Public Availability of Budget Documents.) This is a change from previous rounds of the Open Budget Survey: now at minimum documents must be made available on the Internet and free of charge to be considered publicly available.

The OBS methodology requires that for a PBS to be considered publicly available, it must be made available to the public one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is submitted to the legislature for consideration. If the PBS is not released to the public at least one month before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is submitted to the legislature for consideration, option “d” applies. Option “d” should also be chosen for documents that are produced for internal purposes only (that is, produced but never released to the public) or are not produced at all. Some governments may publish budget documents further in advance than the latest possible dates outlined above. In these instances, researchers should choose options “a” or “b,” depending on the date of publication identified for the PBS.