Senate Bill 2589

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO DIRECT THE STATE FISCAL OFFICER TO TRANSFER STATE GENERAL FUNDS INTO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND DURING FISCAL YEARS 2006 AND 2007; TO CREATE A SPECIAL FUND IN THE STATE TREASURY TO BE DESIGNATED AS THE HURRICANE DISASTER RESERVE FUND AND TO DIRECT THE STATE FISCAL OFFICER TO TRANSFER STATE GENERAL FUNDS INTO THE HURRICANE DISASTER RESERVE FUND; TO AMEND SECTION 12, CHAPTER 112, LAWS OF THE SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF 2005, TO REVISE THE AMOUNT OF RENT FUNDS TO BE TRANSFERRED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION; TO DIRECT THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM TO TRANSFER CERTAIN FUNDS TO THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The State Fiscal Officer shall transfer to the Budget Contingency Fund created in Section 27-103-301, from the State General Fund, an amount equal to One Hundred Sixty-five Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($165,200,000.00) for the period beginning upon the passage of this act through June 30, 2006.

SECTION 2. The State Fiscal Officer shall transfer to the Budget Contingency Fund created in Section 27-103-301, from the State General Fund, an amount equal to Thirty-seven Million Two Hundred Forty Thousand Dollars ($37,240,000.00) during the period beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007.

SECTION 3. There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund, separate and apart from any other special fund, to be designated as the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund. The State Fiscal Officer shall transfer from the State General Fund into the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund an amount equal to Two Hundred Sixty-eight Million Dollars ($268,000,000.00) during the period beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007.

The funds transferred herein to the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund shall be utilized to defray the state's share of any nonfederal matching requirements for Federal Emergency Management Agency grants associated with Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. Unexpended funds remaining in the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund at the end of the fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund but shall remain in the fund and any interest earned on the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund shall remain in the fund.

Funds deposited into the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund shall be used only for the purposes specified in this section, and as long as the provisions of this section remain in effect, no other expenditure, appropriation or transfer of funds in the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund shall be made except by act of the Legislature making specific reference to the Hurricane Disaster Reserve Fund as the source of those funds.

SECTION 4. Section 12, Chapter 112, Laws of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2005, is amended as follows:

Section 12. The Department of Finance and Administration shall transfer rent funds to the General Fund in an amount not less than Six Hundred Thousand Dollars ($600,000.00).

SECTION 5. The Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System shall transfer from Fund Number 3531 to the Budget Contingency Fund not later than August 31, 2006, any remaining balance as of June 30, 2006, of the Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000.00) of General Funds transferred to and utilized by the system as a credit against the one percent (1%) increase in General Fund employer contributions beginning July 1, 2005, pursuant to House Bill No. 1 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2005.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.