Budgeting Implications for ATI Legislation: The Mexican Case
Abstract
This paper analyzes the budgeting implications of implementation of access to information (ATI) legislation in Mexico. Any policy process is characterized by adoption and implementation phases. In the case of ATI policies, the adoption phase generally ends with the approval of an ATI law, and thus budgeting is passed on entirely to the implementation phase. This paper addresss the components (that is, budgetary elements) that legislators and public officials should bear in mind, both when adopting and implementing an ATI law, but is not a study of projected costs. Using the Mexican case, it focuses on the issues that must be taken into account for planning budgetary needs before and after passing legislation.
Research for this paper is based on the Mexican experience with federal ATI legislation and the state-level ATI law in Jalisco. The paper is divided into five sections, followed by a conclusions section. The first section deals with the rationale for developing an ATI budget, emphasizing the importance of looking after budgetary planning before legislation is passed. The second section reviews the general functions and characteristics of an ATI law, which lay the groundwork for budget preparation. A budget model for ATI legislation is presented in the third section, based on the functions of the law and the different types of agencies involved. The fourth section explains the instruments and cases used to collect data according to the model guidelines. Finally, the conclusion section presents the paper's overall findings, focusing on the budget structure resulting from the study of ATI legislation in Mexico. Moreover, this section examines a related subject: the negotiation process of an oversight body's budget, which generally involves the oversight body itself, as well as the executive and Congress.
Citation
Access to Information Working Paper Series, World Bank Institute, 42 pp.
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