Bill Text: MS HB780 | 2013 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Early Care & Education Voucher Program Fund; create in State Treasury and fund from General Fund ending cash balance.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2013-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB780 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-HB780-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representative Barker
House Bill 780
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO CREATE A SPECIAL FUND IN THE STATE TREASURY TO BE KNOWN AS THE EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION VOUCHER PROGRAM FUND; TO PROVIDE THAT MONIES IN THE SPECIAL FUND SHALL BE USED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE VOUCHERS TO PARENTS FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO RECEIVE EARLY LEARNING INSTRUCTION AT QUALIFIED LICENSED EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION CENTERS; TO AMEND SECTION 27-103-213, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A CERTAIN SUM OF UNENCUMBERED GENERAL FUND CASH BALANCE AT THE END OF EACH FISCAL YEAR SHALL BE DISTRIBUTED TO THE EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION VOUCHER PROGRAM FUND INSTEAD OF TO THE MUNICIPAL REVOLVING FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Early Care and Education Voucher Program Fund. The special fund shall consist of the monies distributed to the fund under Section 27-103-213 and any other funds that are made available for the special fund.
(2) Monies in the special fund shall be used by the State Department of Education, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide vouchers to parents for their children to receive early learning instruction at qualified licensed early care and education centers.
(3) All income from the investment of monies in the special fund shall be credited to the special fund, and any monies remaining in the special fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund.
SECTION 2. Section 27-103-213, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-103-213. (1) The unencumbered cash balance in the General Fund in the State Treasury at the close of each fiscal year shall be distributed to the Municipal Revolving Fund, the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund and the Capital Expense Fund in the manner provided in this section.
(2) (a) At the end of each fiscal year, the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration and the State Treasurer shall determine the extent of the unencumbered cash balance existing in the General Fund in the State Treasury.
(b) As used in this section, the term "unencumbered cash balance" or "unencumbered General Fund cash balance" means the amount in the State General Fund after deducting all appropriations and other expenditures. However, if the Legislature has authorized additional or deficit appropriations or transfers from the State General Fund for that fiscal year, those amounts shall be subtracted from the unencumbered cash balance in the General Fund before determining the amount available for distribution. The unencumbered General Fund cash balance shall not be determined until after August 31 of each year, and it shall not be made until the State Treasurer has received a certificate in writing from the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration, with notification to the Legislative Budget Office, showing the amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance.
(3) If any unencumbered General Fund cash balance is available for distribution under this section, the distribution of those funds shall be made by the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration in the following order:
(a) To the * * *
Early
Care and Education Voucher Program Fund, an amount equal to Seven Hundred
Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00); however, if the amount of the
unencumbered General Fund cash balance is less than Seven Hundred Fifty
Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00), then the total amount of the unencumbered
General Fund cash balance shall be distributed to the * * * Early Care
and Education Voucher Program Fund.
(b) To the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund, the amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance not distributed under paragraph (a) until such time as the balance in the fund reaches Forty Million Dollars ($40,000,000.00).
(c) To remain in the State General Fund, an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the General Fund appropriations for the fiscal year that the unencumbered General Fund cash balance represents; however, if the amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance after the distributions are made under paragraphs (a) and (b) is less than one percent (1%) of the General Fund appropriations, then the total amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance not distributed under paragraphs (a) and (b) shall remain in the State General Fund. For the purposes of this paragraph (c), the appropriations for the fiscal year shall be the total amount contained in the actual appropriation bills passed by the Legislature.
(d) To the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund, fifty percent (50%) of the amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance after the distributions are made under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c), not to exceed seven and one-half percent (7-1/2%) of the General Fund appropriations for the fiscal year that the unencumbered General Fund cash balance represents. For the purposes of this paragraph (d), the appropriations for the fiscal year shall be the total amount contained in the actual appropriation bills passed by the Legislature.
(e) To the Capital Expense Fund, any remaining amount of the unencumbered General Fund cash balance after the distributions are made under paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d).
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.
