House Bill 772

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-405, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO RATIFY AND APPROVE THE ORDER OF THE CHANCERY COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY THAT ORDERED THE PAYMENT OF $20,000,000.00 EACH YEAR FROM THE TOBACCO SETTLEMENT PAYMENTS TO THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHY MISSISSIPPI, INC., TO BE USED BY THE PARTNERSHIP TO REDUCE TOBACCO USE AND OTHER SUBSTANCE ABUSE BY YOUTH; TO PROVIDE THAT THOSE FUNDS PAID TO THE PARTNERSHIP UNDER THE COURT ORDER SHALL NOT BE CONSIDERED TO BE TRUST FUNDS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO BE PAID INTO THE HEALTH CARE TRUST FUND; TO DELETE THE REPEALER ON THAT SECTION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 27-103-103, 27-104-13 AND 31-17-123, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT FUNDS PAID TO THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHY MISSISSIPPI, INC., UNDER THE ORDER OF THE CHANCERY COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY SHALL NOT BE CONSIDERED TO BE SPECIAL FUNDS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO BUDGETING AND LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 43-13-405, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-13-405. (1) In accordance with the purposes of this article, there is established in the State Treasury the Health Care Trust Fund, into which shall be deposited Two Hundred Eighty Million Dollars ($280,000,000.00) of the funds received by the State of Mississippi as a result of the tobacco settlement as of the end of fiscal year 1999, and all tobacco settlement installment payments made in subsequent years for which the use or purpose for expenditure is not restricted by the terms of the settlement, except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section and Section 43-13-407(2) and (3). All income from the investment of the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund shall be credited to the account of the Health Care Trust Fund. The funds in the Health Care Trust Fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund.

(2) The Health Care Trust Fund shall remain inviolate and shall never be expended, except as provided in this article. The Legislature shall appropriate from the Health Care Trust Fund such sums as are necessary to recoup any funds lost as a result of any of the following actions:

(a) The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or other agency of the federal government, is successful in recouping tobacco settlement funds from the State of Mississippi;

(b) The federal share of funds for the support of the Mississippi Medicaid Program is reduced directly or indirectly as a result of the tobacco settlement;

(d) Tobacco cessation programs are mandated by the federal government or court order.

(3) The Legislature ratifies and approves the December 22, 2000, order of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, in the case of In Re Mike Moore, Attorney General, ex rel. State of Mississippi Tobacco Litigation (Cause No. 94-1429), in which the court ordered the payment of Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00) each year from the tobacco settlement payments to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, Inc., a Mississippi nonprofit corporation, to be used by the Partnership to reduce tobacco use and other substance abuse by youth. Those funds paid to the Partnership under the December 22, 2000, court order shall not be considered to be trust funds that are required to be paid into the Health Care Trust Fund.

* * *

SECTION 2. Section 27-103-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-103-103. (1) For the purpose of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "state general-fund agency" or "general-fund agency" * * * means any agency, department, institution, board or commission of the State of Mississippi that is supported in whole or in part by appropriations from the General Fund; but the term does not include the Legislature.

(2) For the purposes of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "state special-fund agency" or "special-fund agency" * * * means any agency, department, institution, board or commission of the State of Mississippi that receives no appropriation from the General Fund, but that is supported entirely from special-fund sources, by appropriation, or otherwise, but the term does not include the Mississippi Department of Transportation; nor does the term include the Mississippi Industries for the Blind.

(3) For the purposes of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "state agency" * * * means any general-fund agency or special-fund agency as defined in this section, or the Mississippi Department of Transportation, or the Office of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, as is evident from the context in which it is used.

(4) For the purposes of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "special funds" * * * means all revenues and/or income other than appropriations from the State General Fund that are received, collected by, or available for the support of or expenditure by any state general-fund agency or special-fund agency, or the Mississippi Department of Transportation, or the Office of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, whether those funds are derived from taxes or fees collected by or for the general-fund agency or special-fund agency, or the Mississippi Department of Transportation, or the Office of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, as the case may be, or from any other types of revenue from any other source.

(5) For the purposes of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "special funds" * * * includes revolving funds and all funds received from the United States Government by any state general-fund agency or special-fund agency, but does not include any revolving fund established before July 1, 1984, for the purpose of paying or retiring any indebtedness as is authorized by statute.

(6) For the purposes of Sections 27-103-101 through 27-103-139 and 27-104-1 through 27-104-27, the term "special funds" does not include any funds paid to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, Inc., under the December 22, 2000, order of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, in the case of In Re Mike Moore, Attorney General, ex rel. State of Mississippi Tobacco Litigation (Cause No. 94-1429).

SECTION 3. Section 27-104-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-104-13. The State Fiscal Officer shall have the right to disapprove or reduce and revise the estimates of general funds and state-source special funds for any general-fund or special-fund agency, and for the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, in an amount not to exceed five percent (5%), if he finds that funds will not be available within the period for which the budget is drawn, or if he finds that the requested expenditures, or any part thereof, are not authorized by law, and that action shall be reported to the Legislative Budget Office. The State Fiscal Officer may, upon his determination of need based upon a finding that funds will not be available within the period for which the budget is drawn, transfer funds as provided in Section 27-103-203 from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund to the General Fund to supplement the general-fund revenue. If the estimates of general funds and state-source special funds of all general-fund and special-fund agencies, and of the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, have been reduced by five percent (5%), additional reductions may be made, but shall consist of a uniform percentage reduction of general funds and state-source special funds to all general-fund and special-fund agencies, and to the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Any state-source special funds reduced under the provisions of this section shall be transferred to the State General Fund upon requisitions for warrants signed by the respective agency head, and the transfer shall be made within a reasonable period to be determined by the State Fiscal Officer.

For the purpose of this section, "state-source special funds" shall be construed to mean any special funds in any agency derived from any source, but shall not include the following special funds: special funds derived from federal sources, from local or regional political subdivisions, or from donations; special funds held in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of specific persons or classes of persons; self-generated special funds of the state institutions of higher learning or the state community or junior colleges; special funds of Mississippi Industries for the Blind, the State Port at Gulfport, Yellow Creek Inland Port, Pat Harrison Waterway District, Pearl River Basin Development District, Pearl River Valley Water Management District, Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District, Yellow Creek Watershed Authority, or Coast Coliseum Commission; special funds of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks derived from the issuance of hunting or fishing licenses; * * * special funds generated by agencies whose primary function includes the establishment of standards and the issuance of licenses for the practice of a profession within the State of Mississippi; and funds paid to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, Inc., under the December 22, 2000, order of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, in the case of In Re Mike Moore, Attorney General, ex rel. State of Mississippi Tobacco Litigation (Cause No. 94-1429).

SECTION 4. Section 31-17-123, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

31-17-123. The intent of the Legislature is to authorize borrowing funds under the provisions of Sections 31-17-101 through 31-17-123 to offset any temporary cash flow deficiencies and should not be construed to authorize the borrowing of any funds in an amount that cannot be repaid during the fiscal year in which the funds are borrowed.

The State Tax Commission and University Research Center, utilizing all available revenue forecast data, shall annually develop a general fund revenue estimate to be adopted by the Legislative Budget Office as of the date of sine die adjournment. If, at the end of October, or at the end of any month thereafter of any fiscal year, the revenues received for the fiscal year * * * fall below ninety-eight percent (98%) of the Legislative Budget Office general fund revenue estimate at the date of sine die adjournment, the State Fiscal Officer shall reduce allocations of general funds and state-source special funds to general fund and special fund agencies, and to the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, in an amount necessary to keep expenditures within the sum of actual general fund receipts, including any transfers to the General Fund from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund for the fiscal year. The State Fiscal Officer may, upon his determination of need based on the revenue shortfall, transfer funds as provided in Section 27-103-203 from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund to the General Fund to supplement the general fund revenue. State-source special funds in an amount equal to any reduction made under the provisions of this section shall be transferred to the State General Fund upon requisitions for warrants signed by the respective agency head, and the transfer shall be made within a reasonable period to be determined by the State Fiscal Officer. No agency's allocation shall be reduced in an amount to exceed five percent (5%); however, if the allocations of general funds and state-source special funds to all general fund and special fund agencies, and to the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, have been reduced by five percent (5%), any additional reductions required to be made under this section shall consist of a uniform percentage reduction of general funds and state-source special funds to all general fund and special fund agencies, and to the "administration and other expenses" budget of the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Any receipt from loans authorized by Sections 31-17-101 through 31-17-123 shall not be included as revenue receipts. The State Fiscal Officer shall immediately send notice of any action taken under authority of this section to the Legislative Budget Office.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.