Sponsors (3)
The bill shifts the federal fiscal year to the calendar year to simplify federal budgeting and coordination, but it imposes short-term implementation costs and creates timing misalignments with many state and local fiscal cycles.
Federal agencies, Congress, and subnational partners get a predictable, calendar-year federal fiscal cycle (starts Jan 1), which simplifies budgeting, alignment with annual programs, and intergovernmental coordination.
All agencies will have a short transition appropriation for Oct 1–Dec 31, 2026 so programs maintain legal funding authority during the shift, reducing the risk of funding gaps or operational interruptions.
OMB is directed to issue implementation rules and propose follow-on legislation to manage the change, which should reduce administrative confusion and improve the orderly execution of the transition.
Federal agencies and governments will incur planning, reporting, systems, and implementation costs during the transition (staff time, IT changes, reprogramming), which may divert resources from programs.
Taxpayers could face short-term additional costs (administrative implementation and possible legislative harmonization costs) to carry out the calendar shift.
Many state and local fiscal years remain Oct–Sept, so the federal shift may misalign grant timing and cash flow with subnational budgets, complicating program delivery and local planning.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Shifts the federal fiscal year to the calendar year (Jan 1–Dec 31) starting in 2027 and requires a short Oct–Dec 2026 transition budget and implementation rules.
Official title: To change the calendar period of the Federal fiscal year.
Introduced September 26, 2025 by Michael R. Turner · Last progress September 26, 2025
Changes the federal government’s fiscal year to run from January 1 through December 31 starting with fiscal year 2027 and orders a short transition budget for Oct–Dec 2026. It directs OMB and agencies to plan and issue rules and any needed legislative proposals to convert statutes and manage an orderly shift to the new calendar-year fiscal schedule.