RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT.

Resolved by this Assembly:

That the following be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the State, which, when approved and adopted in the manner provided by the Constitution, shall, to all intents and purposes, become a part thereof:

Article twenty-eighth of the amendments to the Constitution is amended to read as follows:

(a) The amount of general budget expenditures authorized for any [fiscal year] ten-year period shall not exceed the estimated amount of revenue for such [fiscal year] period.

(b) The general assembly shall not authorize an increase in general budget expenditures for any fiscal year above the amount of general budget expenditures authorized for the previous fiscal year by a percentage which exceeds the greater of the percentage increase in personal income or the percentage increase in inflation, unless the governor declares an emergency or the existence of extraordinary circumstances and at least three-fifths of the members of each house of the general assembly vote to exceed such limit for the purposes of such emergency or extraordinary circumstances. The general assembly shall by law define "increase in personal income", "increase in inflation" and "general budget expenditures" for the purposes of this section and may amend such definitions, from time to time, provided general budget expenditures shall not include expenditures for the payment of bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness. The enactment or amendment of such definitions shall require the vote of three-fifths of the members of each house of the general assembly.

(c) Any unappropriated surplus shall be used to fund a budget reserve fund or for the reduction of bonded indebtedness; or for any other purpose authorized by at least three-fifths of the members of each house of the general assembly.

RESOLVED: That the foregoing proposed amendment to the Constitution be continued to the next session of the General Assembly elected at the general election to be held on November 2, 2010, and published with the law passed at the present session, or be presented to the electors at the general election to be held on November 2, 2010, whichever the case may be, according to article sixth of the amendments to the Constitution. The designation of said proposed amendment to be used on the voting machine ballot labels and absentee ballots at such election shall be "Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to authorize the amount of general budget expenditures not exceed the estimated revenue for a ten-year period rather than a one-year period?"