COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4015
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)
[By Request of the Executive]
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[February 21, 2006]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11B-2-20 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to funding of the Revenue Shortfall
Reserve Fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11B-2-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BUDGET OFFICE.
§11B-2-20. Reduction of appropriations; powers of Governor;
Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund and permissible
expenditures therefrom.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, the
Governor may reduce appropriations according to any of the methods
set forth in sections twenty-one and twenty-two of this article.
The Governor may, in lieu of imposing a reduction in
appropriations, request an appropriation by the Legislature from
the Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund established in this section.
(b) A Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund is hereby continued within the State Treasury. The Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund
shall be funded as set forth in this subsection from surplus
revenues, if any, in the State Fund, General Revenue, as the
surplus revenues may accrue from time to time. Within sixty days
of the end of each fiscal year, the secretary shall cause to be
deposited into the Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund the first fifty
percent of all surplus revenues, if any, determined to have accrued
during the fiscal year just ended. The revenue shortfall reserve
fund shall be funded continuously and on a revolving basis in
accordance with this subsection up to an aggregate amount not to
exceed
five ten percent of the total appropriations from the State
Fund, General Revenue, for the fiscal year just ended. If at the
end of any fiscal year the revenue shortfall reserve fund is funded
at an amount equal to or exceeding
five ten percent of the State's
General Revenue Fund budget for the fiscal year just ended, then
there shall be no further obligation of the secretary under the
provisions of this section to apply any surplus revenues as set
forth in this subsection until that time the revenue shortfall
reserve fund balance is less than
five ten percent of the total
appropriations from the state fund, general revenue.
(c) Not earlier than the first day of November of each
calendar year, if the state's fiscal circumstances are such as to
otherwise trigger the authority of the Governor to reduce
appropriations under this section or section twenty-one or section
twenty-two of this article, then in that event the Governor may
notify the presiding officers of both houses of the Legislature in writing of his or her intention to convene the Legislature pursuant
to section nineteen, article VI of the Constitution of West
Virginia for the purpose of requesting the introduction of a
supplementary appropriation bill or to request a supplementary
appropriation bill at the next preceding regular session of the
Legislature to draw money from the surplus Revenue Shortfall
Reserve Fund to meet any anticipated revenue shortfall. If the
Legislature fails to enact a supplementary appropriation from the
Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund during any special legislative
session called for the purposes set forth in this section or during
the next preceding regular session of the Legislature, then the
Governor may proceed with a reduction of appropriations pursuant to
sections twenty-one and twenty-two of this article. Should any
amount drawn from the Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund pursuant to an
appropriation made by the Legislature prove insufficient to address
any anticipated shortfall, then the Governor may also proceed with
a reduction of appropriations pursuant to sections twenty-one and
twenty-two of this article.
(d) Upon the creation of the fund, the Legislature is
authorized and may make an appropriation from the Revenue Shortfall
Reserve Fund for revenue shortfalls, for emergency revenue needs
caused by acts of God or natural disasters or for other fiscal
needs as determined solely by the Legislature.
(e) Prior to the thirty-first day of October, in any fiscal
year in which revenues are inadequate to make timely payments of
the state's obligations, the Governor may by executive order, after first notifying the presiding officers of both houses of the
Legislature in writing, borrow funds from the Revenue Shortfall
Reserve Fund. The amount of funds borrowed under this subsection
shall not exceed one and one-half percent of the general revenue
estimate for the fiscal year in which the funds are to be borrowed,
or the amount the Governor determines is necessary to make timely
payment of the state's obligations, whichever is less. Any funds
borrowed pursuant to this subsection shall be repaid, without
interest, and redeposited to the credit of the Revenue Shortfall
Reserve Fund within ninety days of their withdrawal.