BILL REQ. #:  S-0666.1 

Read first time 01/22/09.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:
     THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article VIII of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:


     Article VIII, section . . . . (a) The legislature shall not appropriate moneys for state operating expenses, and no state officer or agency may expend any money therefrom, if at the time of enactment the projected general fund and related funds and accounts costs of maintaining services and expenditures in the next ensuing fiscal biennium exceed the officially projected combined state revenues and reserves for those accounts.
     (b) The prohibition in subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to a supplemental budget adopted in the same legislative session in which a biennial budget is adopted.
     (c) Each fiscal quarter, the state economic and revenue forecast council appointed and authorized as provided by statute, or successor entity, shall forecast the items required under subsection (a) of this section. The council shall consult the caseload forecast council appointed and authorized as provided by statute, or successor entity, in developing this forecast.
     (d) The legislature shall enact appropriate laws to carry out the purposes of this section.
     (e) This section takes effect January 1, 2010.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of this constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state.