State Government – Week of June 24, 2011

STAFF CONTACT:     Ron Parker

HF 148 – REC and gubernatorial transfer authority

FLOOR ACTION

HF 148 makes several changes related to the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) and the governor’s transfer authority. As amended, the legislation:
** Requires the REC to make estimates for the current and the next two succeeding fiscal years for the General Fund. As amended on the floor, the legislation makes it clear that that the REC estimating the second fiscal year out “shall be considered a preliminary estimate that shall not be used for purposes of calculating the state general fund expenditure limitation.” This estimate does not bind the Governor or the Legislature to the number.
** Restricts the Governor’s ability to transfer funds to 0.001 percent of the total of all appropriations made to the program per transfer and limits the Governor’s total transfer amount to no more than 0.005 percent of general fund per fiscal year. With a $6 billion budget this represents a limit of transfers to $6 million per transfer and aggregate cap of $30 million.
** Limits the aggregate amount of the intradepartmental and interdepartmental transfers made from an appropriation for a fiscal year to 50 percent of the appropriation.
** Requires the REC to meet three times per year, which is the current practice, instead of quarterly.
** Prohibits the Governor from transferring more than 50 percent from a specific line-item. This language would prohibit the Governor from eliminating funding for an entire program. [6/22: 48-0 (Hamerlinck, Bacon)]