Amendment Three on the ballot proposes changes to access the state’s, Rainy Day Fund. Public Affairs Research Council President, Robert Travis Scott, says currently the fund can only be accessed if the economy is in peril or projected state income is insufficient. . Amendment Three allows for another provision.
“If there’s a federally declared disaster you can go and take money out of that Rainy Day Fund even your economy is not affected by the disaster, and we’ve had a dozen federally declared disasters in the last 40-years, so this could happen a lot,” says Scott.
Scott says a two-thirds vote of the legislature is still required to tap funding with Amendment Three, along with a provision for replenishing the fund, upon receipt of federal emergency dollars.
“This is the one amendment on the ballot, this time around that really is related to coronavirus, but it’s not restricted to coronavirus or pandemics, it’s any federally declared disaster,” says Scott.
Scott says the fund is already accessible under a federally declared disaster, but only if the state’s economy is in jeopardy.
“So why do we need to create a situation where you could tap it under a disaster, even when the economy and the revenues of the state are not affected,” says Scott.
Lawmakers cannot take more than the projected deficit from the Rainy Day Fund or one-third of the total balance, whichever is smaller.
Comments