The South African Constitution grants Parliament the power of the purse and stipulates that executive revenue and spending plans must be approved by the legislature. The Constitution nevertheless limited Parliament's role in state finances in so far as it was unable to amend money bills without a procedure set out in law. To give effect to the Constitution, Parliament passed the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 (Act No 9 of 2009), which was promulgated by the President on 16 April 2009. The Act provides for a procedure to amend money Bills before Parliament and for norms and standards for amending money Bills before provincial legislatures.