Bill Text: CA ACA34 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Expenditure limit.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-22 - Read first time. [ACA34 Detail]
Download: California-2009-ACA34-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: ACA 34 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Anderson
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by repealing and
adding Article XIII B thereof, and by amending Section 8.5 of Article
XVI thereof, relating to expenditure limits.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACA 34, as introduced, Anderson. Expenditure limit.
(1) Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit
the annual appropriations subject to limitation, as defined, of any
entity of state or local government from exceeding its adjusted
annual appropriations limit. These provisions also require 50% of the
excess revenues received by the state in a fiscal year and the
fiscal year immediately following it to be transferred and allocated,
from a fund established for that purpose, to the State School Fund,
and the remaining 50% of those excess revenues to be returned by a
revision of tax rates or fee schedules within the next 2 subsequent
fiscal years.
This measure would repeal those provisions, and instead would
limit total state General Fund and special fund expenditures to an
annual increase of no more than the increase in the cost of living,
as specified, multiplied by the percentage increase in state
population. The measure would require excess revenues to be allocated
in prescribed amounts to a reserve account, to the State School
Fund, and to personal income taxpayers. In addition, the measure
would prohibit the expenditure of revenue resulting from any changes
in state taxes or fees enacted into law for the purpose of increasing
revenue, as determined by the Director of Finance, for a period of
12 months following the date on which the changes in state taxes or
fees become operative and would deem those revenues, during this
period, not to be General Fund revenues.
(2) Existing provisions of the California Constitution require
that whenever the Legislature or any state agency mandates a new
program or higher level of service on any local government, the state
is required to provide a subvention of funds to reimburse the local
government for the costs of the program or increased level of
service, with specified exceptions.
This measure would prohibit the filing of a claim for
reimbursement for any mandate if no claim for that reimbursement is
filed within a 2-year period following the effective date of the
mandate. The measure would repeal specified procedures for payment of
local government mandate claims.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2009-10 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December 2008, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
First-- That Article XIII B thereof is repealed.
Second-- That Article XIII B is added thereto, to read:
ARTICLE XIII B
EXPENDITURE LIMIT
SECTION 1. (a) (1) The total expenditures made in a fiscal
year from the General Fund of the State and state special funds may
not increase from the amount of those total expenditures in the prior
fiscal year by more than the percentage increase in the cost of
living multiplied by the percentage increase in the state population.
However, if the total expenditures in the prior fiscal year are less
than the amount of allowable expenditures for that year, then the
amount of total expenditures for the next fiscal year may equal, but
not exceed, the amount of allowable expenditures for the prior fiscal
year.
(2) As used in this section, "percentage change in the cost of
living," as applied to determine the expenditure limit for a fiscal
year, means the percentage change from April 1 of the prior year to
April 1 of the current year in the California Consumer Price Index
for all items, as determined by the Department of Industrial
Relations or its successor. For purposes of this calculation,
"current year" means the calendar year in which the fiscal year
commences.
(b) The expenditure limit in subdivision (a) may be exceeded for a
fiscal year for purposes of an emergency, but any such excess
spending is not part of the expenditure base for the purposes of
determining the amount of allowable expenditures pursuant to
subdivision (a) for the next fiscal year. As used in this
subdivision, "emergency" means the existence, as declared by the
Governor, of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety
of persons and property within the State, or parts thereof, caused
by such conditions as attack or probable or imminent attack by an
enemy of the United States, fire, flood, drought, storm, civil
disorder, earthquake, or volcanic eruption.
(c) Any revenue that may not be expended in the current fiscal
year due to the expenditure limitation in this section shall be
allocated as follows:
(1) To the Special Reserve Account, which is hereby created in the
General Fund of the State, to the extent that this account contains
an amount less than or equal to 10 percent of the total amount of
allowable expenditures for the current fiscal year. Notwithstanding
any other provision of this section, money in the reserve account may
be expended in an amount equal to the amount by which revenues
reported by the Department of Finance pursuant to this paragraph
during the fiscal year fall below the final estimates for that year
provided in the Final Budget Summary published by the Department of
Finance or its successor document. Any funds expended from the
Special Reserve Account pursuant to this paragraph are part of the
expenditure base for the purposes of determining the amount of
allowable expenditures pursuant to subdivision (a) for the next
fiscal year. Subject to the 10-percent restriction set forth in this
paragraph, any unexpended balance in the reserve account, including
any interest earnings, shall carry over from one year to the next.
(2) Revenue that exceeds the amount that may be deposited into the
reserve account shall be allocated as follows:
(A) Fifty percent shall be transferred and allocated, from a fund
established for that purpose, pursuant to Section 8.5 of Article XVI.
(B) Fifty percent shall be paid as a rebate to all personal income
taxpayers in proportion to their tax liability for the tax year that
encompasses the first half of the current fiscal year in which the
excess exists.
(d) If the financial responsibility for providing services is
transferred, in whole or in part, from the state government to an
entity of local government, then the amount of allowable spending in
the year that the transfer is implemented shall be reduced by an
amount equal to the cost of providing the transferred services, to
prevent an effective increase in the level of allowable state
spending. For the purposes of this section, a transfer of financial
responsibility for providing services does not include any mandate of
a program or level of service for which reimbursement is required by
Section 4.
SEC. 2. Notwithstanding Section 1, revenue resulting from any
changes in state taxes or fees enacted into law for the purpose of
increasing revenue collected pursuant thereto, whether by increased
rates or changes in methods of computation, as determined by the
Director of Finance, shall not be expended for a period of 12 months
following the date on which the changes in state taxes or fees become
operative. During that 12-month period, any revenue collected as a
result of the changes in state taxes or fees shall be held in a
separate account in the General Fund and shall be deemed not to be
General Fund revenues for any purpose of this Constitution.
SEC. 3. (a) As used in Section 7.5 of Article IV, "the
percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the State
established pursuant to Article XIII B" means the percentage change
in California per capita personal income from the prior year, plus
(1) the percentage change in the State's population multiplied by the
percentage change in the State's budget in the prior fiscal year
that is expended for other than educational purposes for kindergarten
and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and the community colleges, and (2)
the percentage change in the total statewide average daily attendance
in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and the community
colleges, multiplied by the percentage of the State's budget in the
prior fiscal year that is expended for educational purposes for
kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and the community
colleges.
(b) As used in Section 8 of Article XVI, "change in the cost of
living pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (e) of Section 8 of
Article XIII B" means the percentage change in California per capita
personal income from the prior year.
SEC. 4. (a) Whenever the Legislature or any state agency
mandates a new program or higher level of service on any local
government, the State shall provide a subvention of funds to
reimburse the local government for the costs of that program or
increased level of services, except that the Legislature may, but is
not required to, provide that subvention of funds for the following
mandates:
(1) A legislative mandate requested by the local government
affected.
(2) Legislation defining a new crime or changing an existing
definition of a crime.
(3) A legislative mandate enacted prior to January 1, 1975, or an
executive order or regulation initially implementing legislation
enacted prior to January 1, 1975.
(b) A claim may not be filed for reimbursement pursuant to
subdivision (a) for any mandate if more than two years have passed
since the effective date of the mandate and no claim for that
reimbursement was filed in that period.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "local government" means a
city, county, city and county, school district, special district,
authority, or other political subdivision of or within the State.
Third-- That Section 8.5 of Article XVI thereof is amended to
read:
SEC. 8.5. (a) In addition to the amount required to be applied
for the support of school districts and community college districts
pursuant to Section 8, the Controller shall during each fiscal year
transfer and allocate all revenues available pursuant to
subparagraph (A) of paragraph 1 (2)
of subdivision (a) (c) of Section
2 1 of Article XIII B to that portion
of the State School Fund restricted for elementary and high school
purposes, and to that portion of the State School Fund restricted for
community college purposes, respectively, in proportion to the
enrollment in school districts and community college districts
respectively.
(1) With respect to funds allocated to that portion of the State
School Fund restricted for elementary and high school purposes, no
transfer or allocation of funds pursuant to this section shall be
required at any time that the Director of Finance and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction mutually determine that current
annual expenditures per student equal or exceed the average annual
expenditure per student of the 10 states with the highest annual
expenditures per student for elementary and high schools, and that
average class size equals or is less than the average class size of
the 10 states with the lowest class size for elementary and high
schools.
(2) With respect to funds allocated to that portion of the State
School Fund restricted for community college purposes, no transfer or
allocation of funds pursuant to this section shall be required at
any time that the Director of Finance and the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges mutually determine that current annual
expenditures per student for community colleges in this State equal
or exceed the average annual expenditure per student of the 10 states
with the highest annual expenditures per student for community
colleges.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article XIII
B, funds allocated pursuant to
this section shall not constitute appropriations subject to
limitation.
(c) From any funds
transferred to the State School Fund pursuant to subdivision (a), the
Controller shall each year allocate to each school district and
community college district an equal amount per enrollment in school
districts from the amount in that portion of the State School Fund
restricted for elementary and high school purposes and an equal
amount per enrollment in community college districts from that
portion of the State School Fund restricted for community college
purposes.
(d)
(c) All revenues allocated pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall be expended solely for the purposes of
instructional improvement and accountability as required by law.
(e)
(d) Any school district maintaining an
elementary or secondary school shall develop and cause to be prepared
an annual audit accounting for such those
funds and shall adopt a School Accountability Report Card for
each school.
