HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO.
9
(By Delegate Kessel)
(Introduced January 26, 1994; referred to the
Committee on Constitutional Revision.)
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending article ten thereof, by adding thereto a new section, designated section three-a, relating to the creation of a budget reserve account within the state's general revenue fund which would cap the use of any prior fiscal year's unencumbered funds to a certain level and return the excess to taxpayers; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each House agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the State at the next general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, which proposed amendment is that article ten thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section three-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§
3a.
Limitation on the carryover of unencumbered general
revenue funds.
(a) Within forty-five days after the end of any fiscal year, fifty percent of the excess of any unencumbered general revenue funds remaining from the said fiscal year shall be paid into a budget reserve account to be created within the general revenue fund:
Provided,
That no such payment will be made that would increase the total of the budget reserve account to more than five percent of the general revenue fund's estimated revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. Any of the remaining unencumbered funds designated to be deposited in the budget reserve account which exceed the five percent limit specified herein will be returned to taxpayers in the form of tax returns, as calculated and determined by the appropriate state fiscal agency.
(b) The Legislature, by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house, may appropriate from the budget reserve account such additional sums as may be necessary to fund any anticipated or unanticipated deficit in any given fiscal year or to provide funds required as a result of any revenue reduction enacted by the Legislature or to cover any other fiscal emergency.
Resolved further,
That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as the "Limitation on the Carryover of Unencumbered General Revenue Funds Amendment" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To require that the state return excess general revenue funds to taxpayers at the end of each fiscal year when fifty percent of a year's unencumbered surplus funds, as deposited in a specially-designated budget reserve account, exceed by five percent the projected revenues that will accrue to the general revenue fund in the ensuing year."
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a budget reserve account in the general revenue fund and to limit the amount of a prior fiscal year's unencumbered general revenue funds that can be carried into a new fiscal year and deposited into the account. Unencumbered funds that exceed a specified level would be returned to taxpayers.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.