SENATE, No. 6

The following proposal (see Senate, No. 6 of 2005) having received, in joint session, the affirmative votes of a majority of all members elected to the preceding General Court [see House, No. 4691, amended of 2004], has been referred, in accordance with Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution, to the present General Court.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the Year Two Thousand and Five.

PROPOSAL FOR A LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION CREATING A PERMANENT "RAINY DAY" FUND TO PROVIDE STABLE REVENUES FOR THE COMMONWEALTH.

A majority of all the members elected to the Senate and of Representatives, in joint session, hereby declares it to be expedient to alter the Constitution by the adoption of the following Article of Amendment, to the end that it may become a part of the Constitution [if similarly agreed to in a joint session of General Court and approved by the people at the state next following]:

ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT.

Article LXIII of the Articles of Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 6. Stabilization Fund.

A. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the stabilization fund, in this section called the fund, consisting of amounts transferred to the fund and income derived from the investment of amounts so transferred.

B. The general appropriation bill shall annually appropriate to the fund an amount equal to 1 per cent of the amount of state tax revenues used to defray the general appropriation bill for the previous year. Appropriations to the fund shall not be necessary (i) in any fiscal year when there is no increase or a decrease in state tax revenue due to economic factors beyond the control of the general court; or (ii) in any fiscal year immediately following a fiscal year of no increase or a decrease in the revenue due to economic factors beyond the control of the general court. All surplus funds at the end of each fiscal year shall also be deposited in the fund. Nothing in this Article shall prevent the general court to making additional appropriations to the fund.

C. If in any fiscal year, amounts in the fund, exceed 15 per cent of total revenues used to defray the general appropriation act for that fiscal year, that excess shall be expended in the manner that the general court may by law prescribe. No funds may be transferred or appropriated from the fund, except by an emergency appropriations bill. No more than half of the amounts in the fund shall be expended in any fiscal year.

D. After final action on the general appropriations bill or on recommendation of the governor, emergency appropriation bills may be enacted by a three-fifths vote of members present and voting thereon, taken by yeas and nays, of each branch of the general court. Such bills shall provide the specific means for defraying the appropriations therein contained and shall declare in a preamble the facts constituting the emergency, public exigency, or significant distress necessitating use of these funds. An emergency appropriation bill which transfers or appropriates funds from the fund shall contain a plan for decreasing the necessity for the use of the fund in the subsequent 5 fiscal years resulting from the use of money from the fund.