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 there shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to the Constitution of the state of Washington by adding a new article to read as follows:

ARTICLE.!sc ,1.!sc ,1.!sc ,1.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Section 1. PREAMBLE. State government shall operate its affairs in a fiscally responsible manner. All budgets adopted by the legislature shall be balanced by available revenues. Budgets shall not be balanced by revenue or expenditure shifts, bookkeeping techniques, or a reduction in an orderly method to fully fund state-supported pension systems.

Section 2. STATE GOVERNMENT FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. (1) Appropriations from any fund or account shall not exceed the amount of revenue available to the fund or account as is estimated by the governor and agreed to by the legislature.

(2) Revenues received after the end of a fiscal biennium shall not be credited to that biennium unless the revenues are attributable to activities occurring during the biennium and are received within ten days after the end of the biennium.

(3) Effective July 1, 1988, the state operating budget shall be balanced from revenues received within the biennium, including beginning cash balances, and shall not be balanced by revenue charge-backs, postponing expenses to future biennia, use of dedicated funds unless the dedicated fund is specified for operating purposes, or use of the fiscal emergency account, except as provided in section 4 of this Article.

Section 3. CASH FLOW. The governor and legislature are prohibited from action that would endanger the state's cash flow position. Effective July 1, 1989, the state is prohibited from borrowing from general fund accounts that are dedicated for capital outlay. The state legislature shall provide for an appropriation during the 1989-91 biennium for the purpose of implementing section 2(2) of this Article.

Section 4. FISCAL EMERGENCY ACCOUNT. The legislature shall establish an account within the general fund called the fiscal emergency account. The first two percent of all general fund tax receipts and license fees shall be placed in this account beginning with the 1985-87 fiscal biennium. Money remaining in the fiscal emergency account at the end of a biennium shall be earmarked for any of the following purposes:

(1) Funding state-supported pension systems until such time as the state actuary determines that these systems are fully funded;

(2) Capital outlay;

(3) Reduction of state tax rates or elimination of specific taxes; or

(4) The funds may be retained in the fiscal emergency account: PROVIDED, That the fiscal emergency account shall not exceed ten percent of the previous fiscal biennium's general fund--state expenditure level.

Section 5. EMERGENCY FISCAL ACTION. In the event of a fiscal emergency proclaimed by the governor and three-fifths of the members of each house of the legislature, money in the fiscal emergency account may be appropriated for whatever fiscal emergency related purposes are deemed necessary by the legislature and approved by the governor.

Section 6. REVENUE SHORTFALL. The governor shall provide an estimate of general fund revenues to the legislature at least once every three months. The governor shall reduce appropriations to all state agencies, including the superintendent of public instruction, all other elected officials, and local governments in a manner prescribed by the legislature immediately upon determination that revenue estimates fall short of appropriations.

Section 7. EXPENDITURES WHEN LEGISLATURE IS NOT IN SESSION. (1) The legislature may establish by law a joint budget committee composed of members of both houses of legislature, the membership to be fixed by law, which committee may exercise such powers as are granted in this section and such powers as may be conferred upon it by law.

(2) When the legislature is not in session, the committee may:

(a) Allocate to any state agency or program, out of any fund or funds that may be appropriated to the committee, additional moneys beyond the amount appropriated to the agency by the legislature or moneys to carry on an activity required by law for which no appropriation was made;

(b) Authorize any state agency to expend, from moneys available from unanticipated receipts, as defined by the legislature, for the uses and purposes of the agency, sums in excess of the amount of any appropriations to the agency as provided by law;

(c) Revise or amend appropriation items for programs or to state agencies to the extent of authorizing transfers between appropriation items from the same funds for an agency; and

(d) In the case of an activity coming into existence when the legislature is not in session, approve, or revise and approve, a budget for the new activity.

(3) The authority granted members of the legislature by this section shall not be deemed to violate the provisions of Article II, section 13 of this Constitution or make any member of the legislature ineligible to serve on the committee.

Section 8. EMERGENCY ACTION BY THE LEGISLATURE. The legislature may temporarily suspend sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Article whenever a fiscal emergency exists as proclaimed by the governor and three-fourths of the members of each house of the legislature.

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