House File 626

                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

                                       (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 34)


    Passed House, Date                Passed Senate,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act revising the requirements for establishing the state
  2    general fund expenditure limitation.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 1492HV 80
  5 jp/sh/8

PAG LIN

  1  1    Section 1.  Section 8.54, Code 2003, is amended by adding
  1  2 the following new subsection:
  1  3    NEW SUBSECTION.  1A.  a.  For the purposes of this
  1  4 subsection, unless the context otherwise requires:
  1  5    (1)  "Annual inflation factor" means the sum of the annual
  1  6 monetary inflation factor and the annual population change
  1  7 factor with all of that percent change added to one hundred
  1  8 percent.  The annual inflation factor shall not be less than
  1  9 one hundred percent.
  1 10    (2)  "Annual monetary inflation factor" means an index,
  1 11 expressed as a percentage, determined by the department of
  1 12 revenue and finance by October 15 of the calendar year in
  1 13 which the fiscal year for which the factor is determined
  1 14 ended, which reflects the purchasing power of the dollar as a
  1 15 result of inflation during that fiscal year.  In determining
  1 16 the annual monetary inflation factor, the department of
  1 17 revenue and finance shall use the annual percent change, but
  1 18 not less than zero percent, in the gross domestic product
  1 19 price deflator computed for the second quarter of the calendar
  1 20 year by the bureau of economic analysis of the United States
  1 21 department of commerce.  The annual monetary inflation factor
  1 22 shall be expressed as a percentage rounded to the nearest one=
  1 23 tenth of one percent.
  1 24    (3)  "Annual population change factor" means the percentage
  1 25 change in the state's annual population estimate for July 1 of
  1 26 a calendar year as compared to the state's annual population
  1 27 estimate on July 1 of the fiscal year which ended in that
  1 28 calendar year.  The population estimate used to calculate the
  1 29 annual population change factor shall be the estimate issued
  1 30 annually in December by the United States bureau of the
  1 31 census.
  1 32    (4)  "Base year appropriation amount" means the amount
  1 33 calculated as follows:
  1 34    (a)  The sum of the amounts appropriated from the general
  1 35 fund of the state in each fiscal year of the fiscal period
  2  1 beginning July 1, 1997, and ending June 30, 2002.
  2  2    (b)  Multiplying the sum in subparagraph subdivision (a) by
  2  3 the product of the annual inflation factor for each fiscal
  2  4 year of the fiscal period beginning July 1, 1997, and ending
  2  5 June 30, 2002.
  2  6    (c)  Dividing the amount calculated in subparagraph
  2  7 subdivision (b) by five.
  2  8    (5)  "Cumulative inflation factor" means the product of the
  2  9 annual inflation factor for the fiscal year ending on June 30,
  2 10 2003, and all annual inflation factors for subsequent fiscal
  2 11 years as determined pursuant to this subsection.
  2 12    b.  An adjusted base year appropriation amount shall be
  2 13 calculated for purposes of determining the state general fund
  2 14 expenditure limitation by multiplying the base year
  2 15 appropriation amount by the most recently calculated
  2 16 cumulative inflation factor.  The adjusted base year
  2 17 appropriation amount shall be established annually at or about
  2 18 the time of the meeting of the revenue estimating conference
  2 19 held annually by December 15.
  2 20    Sec. 2.  Section 8.54, subsection 3, Code 2003, is amended
  2 21 to read as follows:
  2 22    3.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, the state
  2 23 general fund expenditure limitation for a fiscal year shall be
  2 24 ninety=nine the lesser of the following amounts:
  2 25    a.  Ninety=nine percent of the adjusted revenue estimate.
  2 26    b.  The adjusted base year appropriation amount determined
  2 27 in accordance with subsection 1A.
  2 28                           EXPLANATION
  2 29    This bill revises the requirements for establishing the
  2 30 state general fund expenditure limitation under Code section
  2 31 8.54.
  2 32    Under current law, the annual expenditure limitation used
  2 33 by the governor and general assembly in budget deliberations
  2 34 is established based upon 99 percent of the adjusted revenue
  2 35 estimate for the succeeding fiscal year.  The bill provides
  3  1 for calculation of an initial base year appropriation amount
  3  2 that is subject to annual adjustment.  The bill requires the
  3  3 expenditure limitation to be the lesser of either 99 percent
  3  4 of the adjusted revenue estimate figure or the adjusted base
  3  5 year appropriation amount.  The base year appropriation amount
  3  6 is defined by the bill as the annual average total
  3  7 appropriations from the general fund of the state during the
  3  8 five=year fiscal period beginning July 1, 1997, and ending
  3  9 June 30, 2002.  The base year appropriation amount is subject
  3 10 to an annual adjustment inflation factor consisting of the sum
  3 11 of an annual monetary inflation factor and an annual
  3 12 population change factor.
  3 13    The annual monetary inflation factor according to the bill
  3 14 is determined by the department of revenue and finance for
  3 15 purposes of indexing the state's personal net income tax and
  3 16 the population change factor is the percentage change in the
  3 17 state's population, based upon estimates issued by the U.S.
  3 18 census bureau.  The department of revenue and finance's
  3 19 inflation factor is equal to the percentage change in the
  3 20 gross domestic product implicit price deflator for the fiscal
  3 21 year ending in the calendar year plus 100 percent.
  3 22    The base year appropriation amount is subject to annual
  3 23 adjustment by applying the cumulative inflation factor.  The
  3 24 cumulative inflation factor is derived as the product of the
  3 25 inflation factor for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, and
  3 26 all annual inflation factors for subsequent years.
  3 27 LSB 1492HV 80
  3 28 jp/sh/8
  3 29