Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1, the General Appropriations Act, appropriates $98.1 billion for the FY2000-FY2001 fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 1999. That amount, from all funding sources, reflects an expenditure increase of 10.9 percent over FY1998-FY1999. Of the biennial appropriations, $61.4 billion, or 62.6 percent, is derived from general revenue, both dedicated and undedicated. Another $27.7 billion, or 28.2 percent, comes from federal funding. Major capital expenditures from all sources total $859.1 million.

            Education receives almost $44.5 billion, an increase of 14.1 percent. The act includes a funding increase of $3.8 billion to fund the Foundation School Program, enhance funding formulas, address property tax relief, provide the $3,000 annual salary increase awarded teachers by Senate Bill 4, and implement other initiatives. Health and human services receive $27.4 billion, an increase of four percent. The act includes a new article consisting of appropriations from the state's tobacco lawsuit settlement. That money supports $348.1 million in health and human services initiatives, not counting the federal match it draws. Of that figure, slightly more than half covers the state share of Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) spending. Other legislation summarized elsewhere in this publication distributes or appropriates additional tobacco settlement money among various permanent funds and local governments for health-related purposes and reimbursements. Economic development, including transportation, receives $12 billion of the state's biennial budget, an increase of 9.5 percent over the preceding fiscal biennium. Public safety and criminal justice receive $7.6 billion, an increase of 4.3 percent.

            The act satisfies all four constitutional spending limits. A "pay-as-you-go" limit requires comptroller certification that certain expenditures are within available revenue. The state's cushion is as much as $500 million but is likely to decrease because of sales and franchise tax receipt reductions that will flow from Senate Bill 441. Spending increases also must not exceed the rate of economic growth. The budget is within that limit. Debt service payable from general revenue, excluding certain constitutionally dedicated revenues, is limited to no more than five percent of the average annual unrestricted general revenue for the three preceding fiscal years. The estimated levels for FY2000 and FY2001 are 2.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Finally, the state is well within a limit restricting welfare spending to one percent of the budgetary total.

            The general provisions article eliminates a number of traditional appropriations riders, which are moved to permanent statutory law by Senate Bill 174 through Senate Bill 178. The same article makes annual adjustments of $1,200 to certain salary schedules, meaning a $100 monthly pay raise for state employees and nonfaculty higher education employees. Other upward schedule adjustments provide increases to law enforcement officers based on a salary survey by the state auditor's office.