GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
H	1
HOUSE BILL 944

 
 
Short Title:	State Fiscal Responsibility Act.	()	
Sponsors:	Representatives Barnhart;  Morris and McMahan.	
Referred to:	Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.	
April 2, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO provide THAT THE SAVINGS RESERVE ACCOUNT must EQUAL eight percent OF THE AMOUNT APPROPRIATED THE PRIOR FISCAL YEAR for the general fund operating budget AND TO LIMIT THE GENERAL FUND OPERATING SIZE TO THE PRIOR fiscal YEAR'S ACTUAL general fund REVENUE collections.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑15.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The General Assembly shall enact the Current Operations Appropriations Act by June 15 of odd‑numbered years and by June 30 of even‑numbered years in which a Current Operations Appropriations Act is enacted. The Current Operations Appropriations Act shall state the amount of General Fund appropriations availability upon which the General Fund budget is based. The statement of availability shall list separately the beginning General Fund credit balance, General Fund revenues, General Fund revenue collections for the prior fiscal year, and any other components of the availability amount.
The General Fund operating budget appropriations, including appropriations for local tax reimbursements and local tax sharing, for the second year in a Current Operations Appropriations Act that contains a biennial budget shall not be more than the General Fund total revenue collections for the first year of the biennial budget."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 143‑15.3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143‑15.3.  Use of General Fund credit balance; priority uses.
(a)	(Effective June 30, 2001) There is established a Savings Reserve Account as a restricted reserve in the General Fund. The State Controller shall reserve to the Savings Reserve Account one‑fourth of any unreserved credit balance remaining in the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year until the account contains funds equal to eight percent  (8%) of the amount appropriated the preceding year for the General Fund operating budget, including local government tax‑sharing funds, that were directly appropriated. In the event that the one‑fourth exceeds the amount necessary to reach the eight percent (8%) level, only funds necessary to reach that level shall be reserved. If there are insufficient funds in the unreserved credit balance for the Savings Reserve Account and the Repairs and Renovations Reserve Account, then the requirements of this section shall be complied with first, and any remaining funds shall be reserved to the Repairs and Renovations Reserve Account, in accordance with G.S. 143‑15.3A.
(a1)	If the balance in the Savings Reserve Account falls below the eight percent (8%) level during a fiscal year, the State Controller shall, in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, reserve to the Savings Reserve Account for the following fiscal years up to one‑fourth of any unreserved credit balance remaining in the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year until the account again equals the eight percent (8%) level set out in subsection (a) of this section.
(b)	The Director may not use funds in the Savings Reserve Account unless the use has been approved by an act of the General Assembly."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 143‑15.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143‑15.4.  General Fund operating budget size limited.
	The General Fund operating budget each fiscal year shall not be greater than the total revenue collections for the prior fiscal year. For the purpose of this section, the General Fund operating budget includes any appropriations for local tax‑sharing, but does not include appropriations for (i) capital expenditures or (ii) one‑time expenditures due to natural disasters, federal mandates, or other emergencies.
		"SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2001.