Bill Summary for Bill Number HCR06-1002

Date: 04/13/2006

Final
SUMMARY for HCR06-1002

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved a substitute motion to adopt amendment L.004 Moved amendment L.001. (During the March 8, 2006, Moved to amend amendment L.004 by lowering the app Moved to reconsider amendment L.001. The motion p Refer House Concurrent Resolution 06-1002, as amen	PASS Pass Without Objection FAIL PASS PASS

12:26 PM - House Concurrent Resolution 06-1002 - Concerning a Constitutional Rainy Day Fund (for action only)

The House Finance Committee initially heard House Concurrent Resolution 06-1002 on March 8, 2006. During this meeting Representative Gardner, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of the resolution that create a rainy day fund. He distributed amendment L.001 (Attachment F) to committee members. Representative Gardner explained that the resolution would use General Fund revenue retained by the state under Referendum C in excess of the amount estimated to be retained in the Blue Book during state fiscal years 2005-06 through 2009-10 as a funding source. Additional money from any legal source can be transferred or appropriated to the fund. He explained that there is no funding cap in the resolution. Representative Gardner said that beginning in FY 2010-11, money can be transferred from the fund to the General Fund if revenue is insufficient to allow for at least 5 percent growth in General Fund appropriations. The transfer would require an affirmative vote of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly.

The committee discussed the funding sources in the resolution and the amendment that if adopted would change the funding sources. After a brief committee discussion, Representative Frangas moved amendment L.001. Representative Gardner explained that the amendment removes this initial funding mechanism in the resolution. The motion passed without objection by those members present.

Representative Garcia distributed amendment L.004 (Attachment G) and an "Unofficial Preamended Version of HCR 06-1002 with amendment L.004 (Attachment H) to committee members. He explained that the amendment would allow the General Assembly to access the rainy day fund with a 2/3 majority vote of each chamber and a majority vote if revenues are insufficient to meet the 6 percent General Fund appropriations limit. The committee discussed the need to access money in the rainy day fund should state revenues not allow the state to fund General Fund appropriations up to the six percent limit.

Representative Harvey discussed the need to take a more constrained approach to accessing the rainy day fund by majority vote and discussed an amendment to L.004 that would reduce the "6 percent" trigger to 5 percent. The committee discussed the reduced trigger and concern that future caseload growth for programs that are funded with General Fund appropriations may grow at a higher rate than 6 percent. Representative Marshall commented that the 5 percent trigger would not allow the General Assembly flexibility during an economic downturn to restore program funding to the current 6 percent limit, which may ultimately fall short of future expected funding needs. The committee continued to discuss each trigger and advantages to each.

(Prior to taking action on additional amendments to HCR 06-1002, the bill drafter informed the committee that provisions in amendment L.004 included the same "non-funding" provisions in amendment L.001. Thus, because of the settled question issue, the committee reconsidered amendment L.001. The motion passed on a 12-0-1 vote. Representative Garcia moved amendment L.004. Prior to the vote, Representative Harvey moved to amend L.004 to reduce the 6 percent trigger to 5 percent. The motion failed on a 7-5-1 vote and amendment L.004 subsequently passed on a 11-1-1 vote.

The committee discussed the constitutional protections afforded to a state rainy day fund by HCR 06-1002. As amended by the committee, the resolution does not contain a specific funding source. The funding sources are now contained in House Bill 06-1050, which was adopted by the committee as a previous bill. HCR 06-1002 was referred to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 10-2-1 vote.


BILL:	HCR 06-1002
TIME:	12:36:57 PM
MOVED:	Frangas
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001. (During the March 8, 2006, committee meeting, Representative Gardner explained that the resolution would use General Fund revenue retained by the state under Referendum C in excess of the amount estimated to be retained in the Blue Book during state fiscal years 2005-06 through 2009-10 as a funding source. Amendment L.001 removes this initial funding mechanism in the resolution. The motion passed without objection by those members present. (The following motion to reconsider amendment L.001 was made after the drafter pointed out that subsequent amendments discussed by the committee would be a settled question.)
SECONDED:	Massey
		VOTE
	Benefield
	Cloer
	Crane
	Frangas
	Garcia
	Harvey
	Jahn
	Kerr
	Marshall
	Massey
	McCluskey
	Judd
	Vigil
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HCR 06-1002
TIME:	12:37:59 PM
MOVED:	Garcia
MOTION:	Moved to reconsider amendment L.001. The motion passed on a 12-0-1 (see above note).
SECONDED:	Frangas
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Cloer	Excused
	Crane	Yes
	Frangas	Yes
	Garcia	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Marshall	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McCluskey	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
Not Final YES: 12 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HCR 06-1002
TIME:	12:43:14 PM
MOVED:	Harvey
MOTION:	Moved a substitute motion to adopt amendment L.004. The amendment would allow the General Assembly to access the rainy day fund with a 2/3 majority vote of each chamber and a majority vote if revenues are insufficient to meet the 6 percent General Fund appropriations limit. The motion passed on a 11-1-1 vote after the following amendment to amendment L.004 failed.
SECONDED:	Marshall
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Cloer	Excused
	Crane	Yes
	Frangas	Yes
	Garcia	Yes
	Harvey	No
	Jahn	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Marshall	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McCluskey	Yes
	Judd	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
Not Final YES: 11 NO: 1 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

jason 3 and 4 incorporated changes in 1


BILL:	HCR 06-1002
TIME:	12:55:55 PM
MOVED:	Harvey
MOTION:	Moved to amend amendment L.004 by lowering the appropriations limit trigger from 6 to 5 percent. Thus, if revenues were to allow appropriations to only grow by 5 percent rather than 6 percent, the General Assembly could access revenue in the rainy day fund by a majority vote. The motion failed on a 7-5-1 vote.
SECONDED:	McCluskey
		VOTE
	Benefield	No
	Cloer	Excused
	Crane	Yes
	Frangas	No
	Garcia	No
	Harvey	Yes
	Jahn	No
	Kerr	Yes
	Marshall	No
	Massey	Yes
	McCluskey	Yes
	Judd	No
	Vigil	No
Not Final YES: 5 NO: 7 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HCR 06-1002
TIME:	01:00:45 PM
MOVED:	Harvey
MOTION:	Refer House Concurrent Resolution 06-1002, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 10-2-1 vote.
SECONDED:	Garcia
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Cloer	Excused
	Crane	Yes
	Frangas	Yes
	Garcia	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Jahn	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Marshall	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McCluskey	Yes
	Judd	No
	Vigil	No
Final YES: 10 NO: 2 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS