HSB 79 (LSB 1652YC (3) 85)

HOUSE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON ALONS)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the veterans trust fund by making a transfer to the fund and making certain changes to transfers made to the fund from a special account in the Iowa lottery fund and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 35A.13, subsection 4, Code 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  The minimum balance of the trust fund required prior to expenditure of moneys from the trust fund is five million dollars. Once the minimum balance is reached, the interest and earnings on the fund and the first three hundred thousand dollars
 
any moneys transferred each fiscal year pursuant to section 99G.9A from the lottery fund to the trust fund are appropriated to the commission to be used to achieve the purposes of this section. Moneys appropriated to the commission that remain unobligated or unexpended at the end of each fiscal year shall revert to the trust fund. It is the intent of the general assembly that the balance in the trust fund reach fifty million dollars.
    Sec. 2.  Section 99G.9A, Code 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   99G.9A  Limited series of lottery games providing aid for veterans.
   The chief executive officer, in consultation with the board, shall develop and conduct two additional instant scratch and two additional pull tab lottery games annually to provide moneys for the benefit of veterans and their spouses and dependents. The moneys received from the sale of tickets for each lottery game shall be deposited in a special account in the lottery fund. Notwithstanding section 99G.39, after payment of the prizes, the remaining moneys
 
an amount sufficient to allow the commission of veterans affairs to expend two hundred fifty thousand dollars each fiscal year shall be transferred to the veterans trust fund established pursuant to section 35A.13
 
to be used to achieve the purposes of section 35A.13. However, if the balance of the veterans trust fund is fifty million dollars or more
 
and if the interest and earnings on the fund in a fiscal year is two hundred fifty thousand dollars or greater, the remaining moneys shall be
 
are appropriated to the department of revenue for distribution to county directors of veteran affairs, with fifty percent of the money to be distributed equally to each county and fifty percent of the money to be distributed to each county based upon the population of veterans in the county, so long as the money distributed to a county does not supplant money appropriated by that county for the county director of veteran affairs.
    Sec. 3.  TRANSFER TO VETERANS TRUST FUND.  At the close of the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012, following the appropriations made to the cash reserve fund pursuant to section 8.57, subsections 1 and 2, and the Iowa economic emergency fund pursuant to section 8.57, subsection 3, and following any transfer made from the Iowa economic emergency fund to the taxpayers trust fund pursuant to section 8.55, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, from the excess moneys that remain in the Iowa economic emergency fund, an amount sufficient for the balance of the veterans trust fund created in section 35A.13 to reach fifty million dollars, up to the amount of excess moneys that remain, shall be transferred to the veterans trust fund, and any remaining excess shall be transferred to the general fund of the state as provided in section 8.55, subsection 2, paragraph “b”.
    Sec. 4.  EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
EXPLANATION
   This bill provides for a one-time transfer of moneys from the Iowa economic emergency fund to the veterans trust fund at the close of fiscal year 2012-2013. The bill provides for the transfer to be made after the standing appropriations of the amounts necessary for the cash reserve fund and the Iowa economic emergency fund to each reach their maximum balance.
   Under current law, when the economic emergency fund has reached its maximum balance, the first $60 million of the excess, limited to the difference between the actual net revenue for the general fund of the state for the fiscal year and the adjusted revenue estimate for the fiscal year, is transferred to the taxpayers trust fund. The bill provides that from the excess moneys that remain following the taxpayers trust fund transfer, an amount sufficient for the balance in the veterans trust fund to reach $50 million up to the amount of excess moneys that remains is to be transferred to the veterans trust fund. Any remaining excess is to be transferred to the general fund of the state, as is provided by current law.
   The bill also provides for the transfer from a special account of the Iowa lottery fund to the veterans trust fund an amount sufficient to allow the commission to expend $250,000 each fiscal year to achieve the purposes of the veterans trust fund.
   The bill takes effect upon enactment.