PRIOR PASSAGE - NONE PRINTER'S NO. 782
No. 7 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY REGOLA, FOLMER, SCARNATI, PILEGGI, ARMSTRONG, BAKER, BOSCOLA, BROWNE, BRUBAKER, CORMAN, EARLL, EICHELBERGER, ERICKSON, GORDNER, MADIGAN, McILHINNEY, ORIE, PICCOLA, PIPPY, PUNT, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, ROBBINS, VANCE, WAUGH, D. WHITE, M. WHITE AND WONDERLING, APRIL 2, 2007
REFERRED TO FINANCE, APRIL 2, 2007
A JOINT RESOLUTION 1 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth 2 of Pennsylvania, providing for spending limitations on the 3 State and for disposition of surplus funds; and establishing 4 the Taxpayer Protection Fund. 5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 6 hereby resolves as follows: 7 Section 1. The following amendment to the Constitution of 8 Pennsylvania is proposed in accordance with Article XI: 9 That Article VIII be amended by adding a section to read: 10 § 18. Spending limitations. 11 (a) Total spending by the Commonwealth in any fiscal year 12 shall not exceed the spending appropriation limit as set forth 13 in this section. 14 (b) The appropriation limit of the Commonwealth may be 15 exceeded in any fiscal year for the following: 16 (1) To respond to a presidential or gubernatorial 17 declaration of emergency if the General Assembly approves by
1 two-thirds affirmative vote of the members elected to each 2 house of the General Assembly. In no case shall the excess 3 spending authorized by exceeding the appropriation limit in 4 this manner be included in the computation base of the 5 appropriation limit for any subsequent fiscal year. 6 (2) In other situations if the Governor so requests, in 7 the manner determined by law, and the General Assembly 8 subsequently approves by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of 9 the members elected to each house of the General Assembly. 10 (c) (1) Except as provided under paragraph (2), for any 11 fiscal year in which the Governor certifies that a surplus 12 exists, 25% of that surplus shall be deposited by the end of 13 the next succeeding quarter into the Budget Stabilization 14 Reserve Fund established in section 1701-A of the act of 15 April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, 16 and 75% of that surplus shall be deposited by the end of the 17 next succeeding quarter into the Taxpayer Protection Fund 18 which is hereby established in the State Treasury. 19 (2) For any fiscal year in which the State Treasurer 20 certifies that the balance in the Budget Stabilization 21 Reserve Fund equals or exceeds 5% of the total of all General 22 Fund appropriations, 100% of the surplus certified by the 23 Governor under paragraph (1) shall be deposited into the 24 Taxpayer Protection Fund. 25 (d) (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (e), the 26 moneys in the Taxpayer Protection Fund shall be distributed 27 to taxpayers who have liability for the tax imposed under 28 Article III of the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known 29 as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, through a reduction in the 30 rate of such tax, which reduction shall be established by an 20070S0007B0782 - 2 -
1 act of the General Assembly to be effective for January 1 2 through December 31 of the subsequent calendar year. 3 (2) The Secretary of the Budget, in conjunction with the 4 Secretary of Revenue, shall certify the rate reduction for 5 the tax imposed under Article III of the Tax Reform Code of 6 1971, for the upcoming calendar year no later than September 7 30. The new rate shall be published in the Pennsylvania 8 Bulletin, posted on the State's publicly accessible Internet 9 website and reported to the chairman and minority chairman of 10 the Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the chairman 11 and minority chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the 12 House of Representatives. 13 (e) No moneys shall be distributed from the Taxpayer 14 Protection Fund pursuant to subsection (d) until such time as 15 the Secretary of the Budget certifies that the moneys deposited 16 therein are sufficient to provide a reduction of at least 0.01% 17 in the rate of taxation for the tax imposed under Article III of 18 the Tax Reform Code of 1971. 19 (f) The General Assembly may at any time provide additional 20 amounts from any funds available to the Commonwealth as an 21 appropriation to the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund. 22 (g) For purposes of this section: 23 "Appropriation limit" means the total of the amounts approved 24 as executive authorizations by the Governor plus the total 25 amounts of preferred and nonpreferred appropriations made by the 26 General Assembly from the General Fund during the fiscal year 27 immediately prior to the budget year under consideration, 28 adjusted by the lesser of: 29 (1) the average percentage change in personal income in 30 this Commonwealth for the three preceding calendar years as 20070S0007B0782 - 3 -
1 reported by the Federal Government or as determined pursuant 2 to an act of the General Assembly; or 3 (2) the average percentage change in inflation for the 4 three preceding calendar years plus the average percentage 5 change in the State population for the three preceding years 6 as reported by the annual Federal census estimates, such 7 number being adjusted every decade to match the official 8 Federal census. 9 "Average percentage change in inflation" means the average of 10 the percentage change for each of the three calendar years, from 11 October to October, immediately preceding the calendar year in 12 which a given executive budget is submitted by the Governor, in 13 the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), not 14 seasonally adjusted, all items index or its successor index, as 15 officially reported by the United States Department of Labor, 16 Bureau of Labor Statistics. 17 "Average percentage change in personal income" means the 18 average of the percentage change in personal income estimates 19 for this Commonwealth, from second calendar quarter to second 20 calendar quarter, for each of the three calendar years 21 immediately preceding the calendar year in which a given 22 executive budget is submitted by the Governor, as reported by 23 the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic 24 Analysis, SQ4 quarterly income summary for this Commonwealth or 25 its successor index or as determined pursuant to an act of the 26 General Assembly. 27 "Average percentage change in State population" means the 28 average of the percentage change in State population for each of 29 the three most recent years immediately preceding the calendar 30 year in which a given executive budget is submitted by the 20070S0007B0782 - 4 -
1 Governor, as reported by the United States Census Bureau for 2 July 1 of each year. 3 "Total spending by the Commonwealth" means all General Fund 4 appropriations made by the General Assembly and all 5 appropriations from a constitutionally or statutorily 6 established fund created after the effective date of this 7 section. 8 Section 2. (a) Upon the first passage by the General 9 Assembly of this proposed constitutional amendment, the 10 Secretary of the Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to 11 comply with the advertising requirements of section 1 of Article 12 XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the 13 required advertisements to two newspapers in every county in 14 which such newspapers are published in sufficient time after 15 passage of this proposed constitutional amendment. 16 (b) Upon the second passage by the General Assembly of this 17 proposed constitutional amendment, the Secretary of the 18 Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to comply with the 19 advertising requirements of section 1 of Article XI of the 20 Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the required 21 advertisements to two newspapers in every county in which such 22 newspapers are published in sufficient time after passage of 23 this proposed constitutional amendment. The Secretary of the 24 Commonwealth shall submit this proposed constitutional amendment 25 to the qualified electors of this Commonwealth at the first 26 primary, general or municipal election which meets the 27 requirements of and is in conformance with section 1 of Article 28 XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and which occurs at least 29 three months after the proposed constitutional amendment is 30 passed by the General Assembly. C8L83DMS/20070S0007B0782 - 5 -