South Carolina General Assembly
115th Session, 2003-2004

Download This Version in Microsoft Word format

Bill 4475

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ADOPTED

May 12, 2004

H. 4475

Introduced by Reps. Harrell, W.D. Smith, Wilkins, Altman, Bingham, Ceips, Chellis, Clark, Cotty, Davenport, Edge, Frye, Gilham, Hagood, Hamilton, Harrison, Haskins, Hinson, Huggins, Koon, Leach, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Mahaffey, Martin, Merrill, E.H. Pitts, Quinn, Rice, Richardson, Simrill, D.C. Smith, G.M. Smith, G.R. Smith, J.R. Smith, Stewart, Stille, Taylor, Toole, Townsend, Tripp, Umphlett, Vaughn, Walker, White, Witherspoon, Young, Sandifer, Kirsh, Owens, Whitmire, Cato, Coates, Ott, Sinclair, Keegan, McGee, Perry, J.M. Neal, Emory, Pinson, Barfield, R. Brown, Weeks, Branham, Bailey, Battle, Neilson, Clemmons, Viers and Harvin

S. Printed 5/12/04--S.

Read the first time March 9, 2004.

            

A BILL

TO ENACT THE FISCAL DISCIPLINE PLAN OF 2004 BY DESIGNATING SECTION 6 OF ACT 356 OF 2002, RELATING TO ACTIONS NECESSARY FOR THE STATE BUDGET AND CONTROL BOARD TO COVER AN OPERATING DEFICIT, AS SECTION 11-11-180, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, AND AMENDING IT TO REQUIRE AN OPERATING DEFICIT TO BE PLACED FIRST ON THE AGENDA OF THE STATE BUDGET AND CONTROL BOARD AT THE FIRST BOARD MEETING FOLLOWING THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL'S REPORT OF THE DEFICIT TO THE BOARD, BY PROVIDING FOR THE REPAYMENT OF THE ACCUMULATED STATE OPERATING DEFICIT AND LIMITING GENERAL FUND APPROPRIATIONS GROWTH TO THREE PERCENT IN FISCAL YEARS 2003-2004 THROUGH 2008-2009 AND PROVIDING FOR THE USE OF SURPLUS REVENUES, AND TO PROVIDE THAT DURING THE SAME PERIOD ANNUALLY REQUIRED TRANSFERS TO THE GENERAL RESERVE FUND MUST BE CONSIDERED RECURRING GENERAL FUND APPROPRIATIONS.

Amend Title To Conform

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    This act may be cited as the Fiscal Discipline Plan of 2004.

SECTION    2.    Section 6, of Act 356 of 2002 is designated as Section 11-11-180 of the 1976 Code and is amended to read:

"SECTION    6.    Section 11-11-180.    (A)    By August 31 of each year, the Comptroller General shall report to the State Budget and Control Board the amounts of general fund revenues and expenditures recorded for the preceding fiscal year and any resulting surplus or deficit of the general fund from a budgetary-based perspective. If the Comptroller General determines that annual expenditures exceeded revenues, an operating deficit must be declared in the report and the State Budget and Control Board must meet to address the deficit within sixty days of receiving the report or earlier at any previously scheduled meeting. The operating deficit must be the first item on the agenda of the first State Budget and Control Board meeting held after the Comptroller General reports a deficit pursuant to this section.

(B)    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon a determination by the Comptroller General that, at the close of a fiscal year, funds will be if the Comptroller General reports an operating deficit for the preceding fiscal year and it is determined funds are needed to balance the Budgetary General Fund after the use of the General Reserve Fund as provided in Section 11-11-310(B) of the 1976 Code, the State Budget and Control Board is authorized to borrow the amount needed to balance the Budgetary General Fund by borrowing from any department of state government any surplus to the credit of the state department which may be on hand in the office Office of the State Treasurer to the credit of any such department. Upon approval by the board of a repayment schedule, the State Treasurer is authorized to transfer to the board from the general fund the amount necessary to repay the loan with interest no later than the following June 30th of the following fiscal year. This provision takes effect upon signature of the Governor."

SECTION    3.    (A)    At the close of the state's 2003-2004 fiscal year, the State Treasurer is directed to transfer fifty million dollars from the general fund to partially offset the fiscal year 2001-2002 accumulated general fund operating deficit.

(B)    To the extent balances in the Capital Reserve Fund for fiscal years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 are available for appropriation by the General Assembly, as provided in Article III, Section 36(B)(2) of the Constitution of this State and Section 11-11-320, it is the intent of the General Assembly to offset any remaining fiscal year 2001-2002 accumulated operating deficit in an amount not to exceed fifty million dollars in fiscal year 2004-2005 and fifty-five million dollars in fiscal year 2005-2006, if so much is necessary, as the first order of priority in the appropriation of the Capital Reserve Fund for the respective fiscal years.

SECTION    4.    (A)    In addition to all other applicable limitations on general fund appropriations and notwithstanding any other provisions of law, for fiscal years 2004-2005 through 2008-2009, except as provided in subsection (C), total general fund appropriations for the fiscal year may not exceed appropriations for the preceding fiscal year by more than three percent. The Office of State Budget shall certify to the Governor and the chairmen respectively of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee the total general fund appropriations allowed for a fiscal year pursuant to this section. In calculating the limitation, there must be removed from general fund appropriations for the preceding year any amounts determined by the Office of State Budget to be nonrecurring. Before the Governor may submit the proposed budget for these fiscal years, the proposal must include the certificate of the Director of the Office of State Budget that the proposed budget conforms to the limitation imposed by this section. The annual general appropriations bill may not be given third reading in the House of Representatives and Senate unless a similar certificate is received by the presiding officer in each house from the Director of the Office of State Budget before the bill is given third reading. The Director of the Office of State Budget must certify to the presiding officer of each house whether or not the appropriations bill conforms to the limitation imposed by this section within two hours of the adoption of the final amendment to the appropriations bill in each respective house.

(B)    Notwithstanding any other provisions of law providing for the uses of surplus general fund revenues, for any fiscal year 2003-2004 through 2008-2009 for which the Comptroller General reports a surplus pursuant to Section 11-11-180(A), to the extent any fiscal year 2001-2002 accumulated general fund operating deficit remains:

(1)    the State Treasurer must transfer to the appropriate depository accounts the amount of any surplus necessary to address any remaining fiscal year 2001-2002 accumulated general fund operating deficit; and

(2)    should any surplus remain after item (1) is accomplished, the remaining surplus must be applied to restore any amounts previously withdrawn from the General Reserve Fund and not previously restored.

(C)    When the fiscal year 2001-2002 accumulated general fund operating deficit is repaid and all amounts previously withdrawn from the General Reserve Fund are restored, the provisions of this section no longer apply.

SECTION    5.    For fiscal year 2004-2005 and through the last fiscal year to which Section 4 of this act applies, amounts required to be transferred to the General Reserve Fund established pursuant to Article III, Section 34(A) of the Constitution of this State and Section 11-11-310 of the 1976 Code, including amounts necessary to restore previously withdrawn amounts, are deemed to be recurring general fund appropriations except that these transfers must be subtracted from total general fund revenues before applying a percentage in calculating any spending formulas based on a percentage of general fund revenues.

SECTION    6.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 9:50 A.M.