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                         ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 26

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State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Representatives Tilly, Dobbs, Sommers, May, Van Luven, Bristow, Thomas, Smitherman, Brooks, Tanner, Allen, Walker, Doty, Fuhrman, Barrett, Padden, C. Smith, Addison, Zellinsky, Silver, Ballard, S. Wilson, G. Nelson, B. Williams, Isaacson, Holland, J. Williams and Bond)

Read first time 3/8/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

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 take effect July 1, 1987, to read as follows:

Article --, section 1.             (1) General fund‑-state appropriations and supplemental appropriations shall not exceed ninety-eight percent of the sum of estimated general fund‑-state revenues for the biennium and the unencumbered balance for the previous biennium, unless each act making an appropriation in excess of that limit is approved by a favorable vote of sixty percent of the members elected to each house of the legislature.  Appropriations from the emergency account under subsection (2) of this section are exempt from this subsection.

          (2) After the close of each biennium, the state treasurer shall transfer the general fund‑-state ending balance for that biennium, other than amounts reappropriated for the next biennium, into the fiscal emergency account hereby created in the state treasury, except that the state treasurer shall not make transfers under this subsection if the balance in the emergency account is more than eight percent of estimated general fund‑-state revenues for the biennium in which the transfer would be made.  Moneys in the fiscal emergency account may be spent only by appropriation approved by a favorable vote of sixty percent of the members elected to each house of the legislature for one or more of the following purposes:

          (a) To decrease the unfunded liability of a state retirement system;

          (b) To reduce taxes;

          (c) For capital outlays or construction; or

          (d) In the event of an emergency, to protect the health, safety, or welfare of the people of the state.

          (3) As used in this section:

          (a) "Estimated general fund‑-state revenues" means an amount expressly designated in a law as the estimate of general fund‑-state revenues for the biennium.

          (b) "General fund‑-state ending balance" means the estimated balance of general fund‑-state revenues remaining at the end of a fiscal biennium, as certified by the office of financial management or successor agency within sixty days after the close of the biennium.

          (c) "Unencumbered balance" means an amount expressly designated in a law as the unencumbered balance for a biennium, except that moneys in the fiscal emergency account shall never be considered part of an unencumbered balance.

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.