Bill Text: TX SJR21 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Proposing a constitutional amendment providing for an annual state budget and annual legislative sessions for budget purposes.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-09 - Referred to Finance [SJR21 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SJR21-Introduced.html

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87R3489 BRG-D
By: Eckhardt S.J.R. No. 21

A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment providing for an annual state
budget and annual legislative sessions for budget purposes.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 5(a), Article III, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The Legislature shall meet every odd-numbered year in
regular session and every even-numbered year in budget session [two
years] at such times [time] as may be provided by law. The
Legislature also shall meet [and] at other times when convened by
the Governor.
SECTION 2. Section 24(a), Article III, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) Members of the Legislature shall receive from the Public
Treasury a salary of Six Hundred Dollars ($600) per month, unless a
greater amount is recommended by the Texas Ethics Commission and
approved by the voters of this State in which case the salary is
that amount. Each member shall also receive a per diem set by the
Texas Ethics Commission for each day during each Regular, Budget,
and Special Session of the Legislature.
SECTION 3. Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 40a to read as follows:
Sec. 40a. (a) A budget session of the legislature may not
exceed 90 days in duration. When convened in budget session, a
house of the legislature may not consider a bill or proposed
constitutional amendment on a matter other than:
(1) appropriations, transfers of state money among
funds and accounts, or state revenue; or
(2) an emergency matter submitted by the governor in a
special message to the legislature.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this constitution, a
budget session is treated in the same manner as a special session of
the legislature for purposes of this constitution.
(c) Unless otherwise provided by general law, a budget
session shall be convened at noon on the second Tuesday in January.
SECTION 4. Section 49(c), Article III, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) The legislature may call an election during any regular
session or budget session of the legislature or during any special
session of the legislature in which the subject of the election is
designated in the governor's proclamation for that special session.
The election may be held on any date, and notice of the election
shall be given for the period and in the manner required for
amending this constitution. The election shall be held in each
county in the manner provided by law for other statewide elections.
SECTION 5. Section 49a(a), Article III, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) It shall be the duty of the Comptroller of Public
Accounts in advance of each Regular Session and Budget Session of
the Legislature to prepare and submit to the Governor and to the
Legislature upon its convening a statement under oath showing fully
the financial condition of the State Treasury at the close of the
last fiscal year [period] and an estimate of the probable receipts
and disbursements for the then current fiscal year. There shall
also be contained in said statement an itemized estimate of the
anticipated revenue based on the laws then in effect that will be
received by and for the State from all sources showing the fund
accounts to be credited during the next fiscal year, [the
succeeding biennium] and said statement shall contain such other
information as may be required by law. Supplemental statements
shall be submitted at any Special Session of the Legislature and at
such other times as may be necessary to show probable changes.
SECTION 6. Sections 49-g(b), (c), (g), (h), (j), (k), and
(l), Article III, Texas Constitution, are amended to read as
follows:
(b) The comptroller shall, not later than the 90th day of
each fiscal year [biennium], transfer to the economic stabilization
fund one-half of any unencumbered positive balance of general
revenues on the last day of the preceding fiscal year [biennium].
If necessary, the comptroller shall reduce the amount transferred
in proportion to the other amounts prescribed by this section to
prevent the amount in the fund from exceeding the limit in effect
for that fiscal year [biennium] under Subsection (g) of this
section.
(c) Not later than the 90th day of each fiscal year, the
comptroller of public accounts shall transfer from the general
revenue fund to the economic stabilization fund and the state
highway fund the sum of the amounts described by Subsections (d) and
(e) of this section, to be allocated as provided by Subsections
(c-1) and (c-2) of this section. However, if necessary and
notwithstanding the allocations prescribed by Subsections (c-1)
and (c-2) of this section, the comptroller shall reduce
proportionately the amounts described by Subsections (d) and (e) of
this section to be transferred and allocated to the economic
stabilization fund to prevent the amount in that fund from
exceeding the limit in effect for that fiscal year [biennium] under
Subsection (g) of this section. Revenue transferred to the state
highway fund under this subsection may be used only for
constructing, maintaining, and acquiring rights-of-way for public
roadways other than toll roads.
(g) During each fiscal year [biennium], the amount in the
economic stabilization fund may not exceed an amount equal to 10
percent of the total amount, excluding investment income, interest
income, and amounts borrowed from special funds, deposited in
general revenue during the preceding two fiscal years [biennium].
(h) In preparing an estimate of anticipated revenues for a
succeeding fiscal year [biennium] as required by Article III,
Section 49a, of this constitution, the comptroller shall estimate
the amount of the transfers that will be made under Subsections (b),
(d), and (e) of this section. The comptroller shall deduct that
amount from the estimate of anticipated revenues as if the
transfers were made on August 31 of that fiscal year.
(j) The comptroller may transfer money from the economic
stabilization fund to general revenue to prevent or eliminate a
temporary cash deficiency in general revenue. The comptroller
shall return the amount transferred to the economic stabilization
fund as soon as practicable, but not later than August 31 of the
fiscal year in which the transfer is made [each odd-numbered year].
The comptroller shall allocate the depository interest as if the
transfers had not been made. If the comptroller submits a statement
to the governor and the legislature under Article III, Section 49a,
of this constitution when money from the economic stabilization
fund is in general revenue, the comptroller shall state that the
transferred money is not available for appropriation from general
revenue.
(k) Amounts from the economic stabilization fund may be
appropriated during a regular or budget [legislative] session only
for a purpose for which an appropriation from general revenue was
made for the current fiscal year [by the preceding legislature] and
may be appropriated in a special session only for a purpose for
which an appropriation from general revenue was made in a preceding
legislative session of the same legislature. An appropriation from
the economic stabilization fund may be made under this subsection
only if the comptroller certifies that appropriations from general
revenue made for the current fiscal year [by the preceding
legislature for the current biennium] exceed available general
revenues and cash balances for the remainder of that fiscal year
[biennium]. The amount of the [an] appropriation [from the
economic stabilization fund] may not exceed the difference between
the comptroller's estimate of general revenue for the current
fiscal year [biennium] at the time the comptroller receives for
certification the bill making the appropriation and the amount of
general revenue appropriations for that fiscal year [biennium]
previously certified by the comptroller. Appropriations from the
economic stabilization fund under this subsection may not extend
beyond the last day of the current fiscal year [biennium]. An
appropriation from the economic stabilization fund under this
subsection must be approved by a three-fifths vote of the members
present in each house of the legislature.
(l) If an estimate of anticipated revenues for the [a]
succeeding fiscal year [biennium] prepared by the comptroller
pursuant to Article III, Section 49a, of this constitution is less
than the revenues that are estimated at the same time by the
comptroller to be available for the current fiscal year [biennium],
the legislature may, by a three-fifths vote of the members present
in each house, appropriate for the succeeding fiscal year
[biennium] from the economic stabilization fund an amount not to
exceed this difference. Following each fiscal year, the actual
amount of revenue shall be computed, and if the estimated
difference exceeds the actual difference, the comptroller shall
transfer the amount necessary from general revenue to the economic
stabilization fund so that the actual difference shall not be
exceeded. If all or a portion of the difference in revenue from one
fiscal year [biennium] to the next results, at least in part, from a
change in a tax rate or base adopted by the legislature, the
computation of revenue difference shall be adjusted to the amount
that would have been available had the rate or base not been
changed.
SECTION 7. Section 51-a(b), Article III, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The Legislature may provide by General Law for medical
care, rehabilitation and other similar services for needy persons.
The Legislature may prescribe such other eligibility requirements
for participation in these programs as it deems appropriate and may
make appropriations out of state funds for such purposes. The
maximum amount paid out of state funds for assistance grants to or
on behalf of needy dependent children and their caretakers shall
not exceed one percent of the state budget. The Legislature by
general statute shall provide for the means for determining the
state budget amounts, including state and other funds appropriated
by the Legislature, to be used in establishing the [biennial] limit
for a fiscal year.
SECTION 8. Section 9, Article IV, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 9. The Governor shall, at the commencement of each
session of the Legislature, and at the close of the Governor's [his]
term of office, give to the Legislature information, by message, of
the condition of the State; and the Governor [he] shall recommend to
the Legislature such measures as the Governor [he] may deem
expedient. The Governor [He] shall account to the Legislature for
all public moneys the Governor has received and paid out [by him],
from any funds subject to the Governor's [his] order, with
vouchers; and shall accompany the [his] message with a statement of
the same. And at the commencement of each regular session and
budget session, the Governor [he] shall present estimates of the
amount of money required to be raised by taxation for all purposes.
SECTION 9. Section 5(a), Article VII, Texas Constitution,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The permanent school fund consists of all land
appropriated for public schools by this constitution or the other
laws of this state, other properties belonging to the permanent
school fund, and all revenue derived from the land or other
properties. The available school fund consists of the distributions
made to it from the total return on all investment assets of the
permanent school fund, the taxes authorized by this constitution or
general law to be part of the available school fund, and
appropriations made to the available school fund by the
legislature. The total amount distributed from the permanent school
fund to the available school fund:
(1) in [each year of] a state fiscal year [biennium]
must be an amount that is not more than six percent of the average of
the market value of the permanent school fund, excluding real
property belonging to the fund that is managed, sold, or acquired
under Section 4 of this article, but including discretionary real
assets investments and cash in the state treasury derived from
property belonging to the fund, on the last day of each of the 16
state fiscal quarters preceding the regular or budget session of
the legislature, as applicable, that begins before that state
fiscal year [biennium], in accordance with the rate adopted by:
(A) a vote of two-thirds of the total membership
of the State Board of Education, taken before that [the] regular or
budget session of the legislature convenes; or
(B) the legislature by general law or
appropriation, if the State Board of Education does not adopt a rate
as provided by Paragraph (A) of this subdivision; and
(2) over the 10-year period consisting of the current
state fiscal year and the nine preceding state fiscal years may not
exceed the total return on all investment assets of the permanent
school fund over the same 10-year period.
SECTION 10. Sections 20(d), (e), (f), and (g), Article VII,
Texas Constitution, are amended to read as follows:
(d) In each state fiscal year [biennium], the legislature
may appropriate as provided by Subsection (f) of this section all or
a portion of the total return on all investment assets of the fund
to carry out the purposes for which the fund is established.
(e) The legislature annually [biennially] shall allocate
the amounts appropriated under this section, or shall provide for
an annual [a biennial] allocation of those amounts, to eligible
state universities to carry out the purposes of the fund. The money
shall be allocated based on an equitable formula established by the
legislature or an agency designated by the legislature. The
legislature shall review and as appropriate adjust, or provide for
a review and adjustment, of the allocation formula at the end of
each state fiscal year [biennium].
(f) The portion of the total return on investment assets of
the fund that is available for appropriation in a state fiscal year
[biennium] under this section is the portion determined by the
legislature, or an agency designated by the legislature, as
necessary to provide as nearly as practicable a stable and
predictable stream of annual distributions to eligible state
universities and to maintain over time the purchasing power of fund
investment assets. If the purchasing power of fund investment
assets for any rolling 10-year period is not preserved, the
distributions may not be increased until the purchasing power of
the fund investment assets is restored. The amount appropriated
from the fund in any fiscal year may not exceed an amount equal to
seven percent of the average net fair market value of the investment
assets of the fund, as determined by law. Until the fund has been
invested for a period of time sufficient to determine the
purchasing power over a 10-year period, the legislature may provide
by law for means of preserving the purchasing power of the fund.
(g) The legislature shall establish criteria by which a
state university may become eligible to receive a portion of the
distributions from the fund. A state university that becomes
eligible to receive a portion of the distributions from the fund in
a state fiscal year [biennium] remains eligible to receive
additional distributions from the fund in any subsequent state
fiscal year [biennium]. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas
A&M University are not eligible to receive money from the fund.
SECTION 11. Section 6, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 6. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in
pursuance of specific appropriations made by law; nor shall any
appropriation of money be made for a longer term than one year [two
years].
SECTION 12. Section 22(a), Article VIII, Texas
Constitution, is amended to read as follows:
(a) In no fiscal year [biennium] shall the rate of growth of
appropriations from state tax revenues not dedicated by this
constitution exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state's
economy. The legislature shall provide by general law procedures
to implement this subsection.
SECTION 13. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) The constitutional amendment
proposed by the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, providing
for an annual state budget and annual legislative sessions for
budget purposes takes effect September 1, 2023.
(b) The amendment does not affect the validity of an
appropriation made before September 1, 2023, for any part of the two
consecutive state fiscal years ending August 31, 2025.
(c) This temporary provision expires January 1, 2026.
SECTION 14. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 2021.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment providing for an annual
state budget and annual legislative sessions for budget purposes."