A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to limit general fund budget expenditures for a fiscal year to the general fund operating budget appropriations for the prior fiscal year.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑15.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The General Assembly shall enact the Current Operations Appropriations Act by June 15 of odd‑numbered years and by June 30 of even‑numbered years in which a Current Operations Appropriations Act is enacted. The Current Operations Appropriations Act shall state the amount of General Fund appropriations availability upon which the General Fund budget is based. The statement of availability shall list separately the beginning General Fund credit balance, General Fund revenues, and any other components of the availability amount.
The General Fund operating budget appropriations, including appropriations for local tax reimbursements and local tax sharing, for the second year in a Current Operations Appropriations Act that contains a biennial budget shall not be more than the General Fund operating budget appropriations for the first year of the biennial budget."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 143‑15.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143‑15.4.  General Fund operating budget size limited.
(a)	Size Limitation. The General Fund operating budget each fiscal year shall not be greater than the General Fund operating budget appropriations for the prior fiscal year. For the purpose of this section, the General Fund operating budget includes any appropriations for local tax‑sharing, but does not include appropriations for (i) capital expenditures or (ii) one‑time expenditures due to natural disasters, federal mandates, or other emergencies.
	(c)	Fiscal Reports. The Office of State Budget and Management and the Fiscal Research Division shall each submit a final certification of the General Fund operating budget appropriations for the prior fiscal year to the General Assembly no later than May 1 of each year. The General Assembly shall use the lower of the two final certifications to calculate the limitation on the size of the General Fund operating budget provided in this section."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.