SJR 1: Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to an appropriation limit.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1 01 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to an 02 appropriation limit. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. Article IX, sec. 16, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is repealed and 05 readopted to read: 06 Section 16. Appropriation Limit. (a) Subject to (b) of this section and 07 except as provided in this section, appropriations made for a current fiscal year shall 08 not exceed the amount appropriated in the immediately preceding fiscal year by more 09 than the product of the prior year appropriations multiplied by the sum of one plus the 10 percentage change in State population, and then multiplying that resultant product by 11 one plus the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index. However, the 12 percentage change in the Consumer Price Index shall be no greater than the percentage 13 change in personal income of State residents. The Department of Commerce, 14 Community, and Economic Development or its successor agency shall determine the 15 change in per capita personal income based upon the Alaska personal income statistics 16 produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the United States Department of
01 Commerce. In this subsection, 02 (1) "percentage change in State population" means the percentage 03 change for the latest available estimates as compiled by a State agency; 04 (2) "percentage change in the Consumer Price Index" means the 05 percentage change for the latest available estimates for all urban consumers for the 06 Anchorage metropolitan area as compiled by a federal agency. 07 (b) If the appropriation limit amount calculated in this section for a current 08 fiscal year is less than the appropriation limit amount calculated for the immediately 09 preceding fiscal year, the appropriation limit amount for the immediately preceding 10 fiscal year shall apply to the current fiscal year. 11 (c) Calculations made under (a) of this section shall not include appropriations 12 (1) to the Alaska permanent fund established in Section 15 of this 13 article; 14 (2) of Alaska permanent fund income for payments of permanent fund 15 dividends to State residents; 16 (3) of money received by the State from a source other than the State 17 or federal government that is restricted to a specific use by the terms of a gift, grant, 18 bequest, or contract; 19 (4) of State general obligation bond and revenue bond proceeds; 20 (5) required to pay obligations under revenue bonds; 21 (6) of money received from the federal government; 22 (7) of money received as tuition, fees, or contract receipts, or from 23 other sources apart from the general fund by the University of Alaska; 24 (8) of dedicated funds and trust funds; 25 (9) of money for expenditures by a State agency to provide services to 26 another State agency that has also received an appropriation of the same money; 27 (10) of money previously appropriated for a different purpose or to a 28 different recipient; and 29 (11) made under (d), (g), or (k) of this section. 30 (d) The appropriation limit imposed by this section may be exceeded for a 31 fiscal year in an emergency as defined in (e) of this section. Any expenditure
01 exceeding the limit imposed by this section for a declared emergency as provided for 02 in this section shall be for that purpose only and shall be directly related to, and 03 proportional to the costs arising from, the emergency. Furthermore, such funds shall 04 not be considered in the base for determining the following year's appropriation limit. 05 (e) "Emergency," for the purposes of this section, means the existence, as 06 declared by the governor, of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of 07 persons an property within the State, or parts thereof, caused by an attack or probable 08 or imminent attack by an enemy of the United States, epidemic, fire, flood, drought, 09 storm, civil disorder, earthquake, or volcanic eruption. "Emergency" does not include 10 revenue shortfalls, excessive spending, or similar conditions limiting the ability to 11 fund government operations. 12 (f) The commissioner of revenue, or the head of a successor agency, shall, on 13 a quarterly basis, report to the governor and the members of the Finance Committees 14 in each house regarding the State's compliance with the appropriation limit imposed 15 by this section for the current fiscal year. The report shall include updated estimates 16 of revenues and expenditures and the appropriation limit for the current fiscal year. If 17 the Department of Revenue estimates that current fiscal year total expenditures might 18 exceed the appropriation limit imposed by this section, the report shall include 19 recommendations for corrective actions. 20 (g) If total general and other fund revenues exceed the amount that may be 21 expended in the current fiscal year due to the appropriation limit imposed by this 22 section, the amount of the excess shall be allocated from the general fund as follows: 23 (1) If the budget reserve fund set forth in Section 17 of this article has 24 a total of less than $5,000,000,000, then 100 percent of the excess revenues shall be 25 deposited in the budget reserve fund to the extent that this fund contains an amount of 26 no more than $5,000,000,000. Any funds that may not be allocated to the constitution 27 budget reserve fund due to the $5,000,000,000 limitation shall be allocated under (3), 28 (4), and (5) of this subsection. 29 (2) Any funds expended from the budget reserve fund shall not be 30 considered as part of the base for the purposes of determining the amount of allowable 31 appropriations of subsequent years.
01 (3) Fifty percent of the excess revenues not allocated to the budget 02 reserve fund in accordance with (1) of this subsection shall be deposited into the 03 Alaska permanent fund as established in Section 15 of this article. 04 (4) Twenty-five percent of the excess revenues not allocated to the 05 budget reserve fund in accordance with (1) of this subsection shall be returned to the 06 citizens of Alaska as a supplement to the permanent fund dividend to those citizens 07 entitled to receive a permanent fund dividend. 08 (5) Twenty-five percent of the excess revenues not allocated to the 09 budget reserve fund in accordance with (1) of this subsection shall be deposited to a 10 schools, roads, and highways deferred maintenance fund, which is hereby created in 11 the treasury as a trust fund, which shall be available for allocation by the legislature to 12 local agencies and school districts for deferred maintenance of roads, highways, and 13 schools. 14 (h) If, following enactment of the budget bill, the governor determines that, 15 for that fiscal year, general fund revenues will decline substantially below the estimate 16 of general fund revenues upon which the budget bill for that fiscal year, as enacted, 17 was based, or general fund expenditures will increase substantially above the estimate 18 of general fund revenues, or both, or if, following the enactment of the budget bill for 19 fiscal year, the governor determines that, for that fiscal year, total expenditures are 20 expected to exceed the appropriation limit imposed by this section for that fiscal year, 21 the governor may issue a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency and shall cause 22 the legislature to assemble in special session solely for that purpose. The 23 proclamation shall identify the nature of the fiscal emergency and shall be submitted 24 by the governor to the legislature, accompanied by proposed legislation to address the 25 fiscal emergency. Any legislation proposed or enacted in response to the fiscal 26 emergency declared under this section shall comply with the requirements of this 27 section. 28 (i) If the legislature fails to pass and send to the governor a bill or bills to 29 address the fiscal emergency declared under (h) of this section by the tenth day 30 following the issuance of the proclamation, the legislature may not adjourn for a joint 31 recess until that bill or those bills have been passed and signed by the governor.
01 Neither the governor nor any member of the legislature shall be entitled to any salary, 02 per diem, or other expense allowance for any day after the tenth day following the 03 issuance of the proclamation until legislation addressing the fiscal emergency has been 04 passed and signed into law by the governor. No forfeited salary, per diem, or expense 05 allowance shall be paid retroactively. 06 (j) A bill addressing the fiscal emergency declared under (h) of this section 07 shall contain a statement to that effect. 08 (k) Whenever, based on the most recent Department of Revenue estimates, or 09 the estimates of its successor agency, and based on laws then in effect, the estimated 10 total amount of debt service for the current fiscal year or any of the succeeding four 11 fiscal years on non-self-liquidating general obligation bonds and general-fund- 12 supported lease revenue bonds exceeds six percent of the estimated general fund 13 revenues for that fiscal year, exclusive of transfers from other funds during that fiscal 14 year, the treasurer many not sell any additional not-self-liquidating general obligation 15 bonds or general-fund-supporting lease revenue bonds. 16 (l) If the percentage under (k) of this section is six percent or less, the 17 treasurer may sell those bonds to the extent that, based on the most recent Department 18 of Revenue estimates, or the estimates of its successor agency, and based on laws then 19 in effect, the additional debt service will not cause the percentage to exceed six 20 percent for the current fiscal year or any of the succeeding four fiscal years. 21 * Sec. 2. Article XV, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended by adding a new 22 section to read: 23 Section 30. Application, Transition, and Repeal. The 2006 amendment 24 relating to an appropriation limit (art. IX, sec. 16) first applies to appropriations made 25 for fiscal year 2008. However, for purposes of making calculations under the 26 appropriation limit for fiscal years 2008 through 2010, it shall be assumed that, 27 excluding appropriation listed under Section 16(c) of Article IX, the amount 28 appropriated for 29 (1) fiscal year 2006 equals $3,250,000,000; and 30 (2) fiscal year 2007 equals $3,393,000,000. 31 * Sec. 3. The amendments proposed by this resolution shall be placed before the voters of
01 the state at the next general election in conformity with art. XIII, sec. 1, Constitution of the 02 State of Alaska, and the election laws of the state.