NOTE: §11 eff. until ratification of the const. amend. proposed by Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1.

§11. Budgets

            Section 11.(A) Budget Estimate. The governor shall submit to the legislature, at the time and in the form fixed by law, a budget estimate for the next fiscal year setting forth all proposed state expenditures. This budget shall include a recommendation for appropriations from the state general fund and from dedicated funds, except funds allocated by Article VII, Section 4, Paragraphs (D) and (E), which shall not exceed the official forecast of the Revenue Estimating Conference and the expenditure limit for the fiscal year. The recommendation shall also comply with the provisions of Article VII, Section 10(D). This budget shall include a recommendation for funding of state salary supplements for full-time law enforcement and fire protection officers of the state, as provided in Article VII, Section 10(D)(3) of this constitution.

            (B) Operating Budget. The governor shall cause to be submitted a general appropriation bill for proposed ordinary operating expenditures which shall be in conformity with the recommendations for appropriations contained in the budget estimate. The governor may cause to be submitted a bill or bills to raise additional revenues with proposals for the use of these revenues.

            (C) Capital Budget. The governor shall submit to the legislature, at each regular session, a proposed five-year capital outlay program and request implementation of the first year of the program. Prior to inclusion in the comprehensive capital budget which the legislature adopts, each capital improvement project shall be evaluated through a feasibility study, as defined by the legislature, which shall include an analysis of need and estimates of construction and operating costs. The legislature shall provide by law for procedures, standards, and criteria for the evaluation of such feasibility studies and shall set the schedule of submission of such feasibility studies which shall take effect not later than December thirty-first following the first regular session convening after this Paragraph takes effect. These procedures, standards, and criteria for evaluation of such feasibility studies cannot be changed or altered except by a separate legislative instrument approved by a favorable vote of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. For those projects not eligible for funding under the provisions of Article VII, Section 27 of this constitution, the request for implementation of the first year of the program shall include a list of the proposed projects in priority order based on the evaluation of the feasibility studies submitted. Capital outlay projects approved by the legislature shall be made a part of the comprehensive state capital budget, which shall be adopted by the legislature.

NOTE: §11 eff. upon ratification of the const. amend. proposed by Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1.

§11. State Debt; Interim Emergency Board; Composition; Powers

            Section 11.(A) Composition. The Interim Emergency Board is created. It shall be composed of the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, presiding officer of each house of the legislature, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, or their designees.

            (B) Powers. (1) Between sessions of the legislature, when the board by majority vote determines that an emergency or impending flood emergency exists, it may appropriate from the state general fund or borrow on the full faith and credit of the state an amount to meet the emergency. The appropriation may be made or the indebtedness incurred only for a purpose for which the legislature may appropriate funds and then only after the board obtains, as provided by law, the written consent of two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature.

            (2) For the purposes of this Paragraph, an emergency is an event or occurrence not reasonably anticipated by the legislature and an impending flood emergency shall be an anticipated situation which endangers an existing flood protection structure. The appropriation or indebtedness incurred for an impending flood emergency shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars for any one event or occurrence. For an impending emergency to qualify for funding it must be determined as such by the United States Army Corps of Engineers or the United States Coast Guard. Total funding for impending emergencies shall not exceed twenty-five percent of the funds annually available to the Interim Emergency Board.

            (C) Limits. The aggregate of indebtedness outstanding at any one time and the amount appropriated from the state general fund for the current fiscal year under the authority of this Section shall not exceed one-tenth of one percent of total state revenue receipts for the previous fiscal year.

            (D) Allocation. An amount sufficient to pay indebtedness incurred during the preceding fiscal year under the authority of this Section is allocated, as a first priority, each year from the state general fund.

            Amended by Acts 1990, No. 1096, §1, approved Oct. 6, 1990, eff. Nov. 8, 1990; Acts 1993, No. 1045, §1, approved Oct. 16, 1993, eff. Nov. 18, 1993; Acts 2001, No. 1234, §1, approved Nov. 5, 2002, eff. Dec. 11, 2002; Acts 2024, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 1, §1, See Act.