HB126INTRODUCED
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WV1H5E-1
By Representatives South, Reynolds
RFD: Ways and Means General Fund
First Read: 21-Mar-23
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5 WV1H5E-1 03/03/2023 EBO-DHC EBO JT EBO-2023-17
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SYNOPSIS:
This bill creates the Medicaid Emergency Reserve
Fund and provides for the withdrawal and use of the
amounts deposited into the fund.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To create the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund and to
provide for the withdrawal and use of amounts deposited into
the fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. This Act shall be known as the Medicaid
Emergency Reserve Fund Act.
Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is in the best
interest of the State of Alabama that the Alabama Medicaid
Agency is not forced to reduce payments to medical providers
or eliminate optional but essential medical benefits to
Medicaid recipients when the fiscal year appropriation is
insufficient to continue the operations of the Medicaid
program. It is the intent of the Legislature that there be a
Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund to ensure the continued
operation of the Alabama Medicaid Agency during budget
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shortfalls.
Section 3. There is hereby created in the State Treasury a
fund to be known as the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund. The fund
shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this
article. The fund shall be budgeted and allotted in accordance with
Sections 41-4-80 through 41-4-96 and Sections 41-19-1 through
41-19-12.
Section 4.(a) The Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund shall
only be used for the following reasons:
(1) To cover expenditure variances due to cost increases;
(2) To cover expenditure variances due to unforeseen
cost; or
(3) To prevent overdraft or deficit if the Alabama
Medicaid Agency is expected to expend its total State General
Fund appropriation before the end of the fiscal year.
(b) Funds in the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund shall
only be used by the Alabama Medicaid Agency when authorized by
the Governor.
(c) The Alabama Medicaid Agency must exhaust its
appropriation from the State General Fund for the fiscal year
in which the Governor approves the release before any funds
from the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund are utilized.
Section 5.(a) The Commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid
Agency shall notify the Governor when he or she foresees that
the Alabama Medicaid Agency will exhaust its State General
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Fund appropriation within 180 days or less due to any of the
reasons stated in Section 4(a). The notification must include
a detailed explanation of why the State General Fund
appropriation will be exhausted, the anticipated amount of
funds necessary to continue the operation of the Medicaid
program until the next fiscal year, and the effect on the
Medicaid program if the Alabama Medicaid Agency is unable to
utilize funds from the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund.
(b) The Commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid Agency
shall contemporaneously send the same notification to the
Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee-General
Fund, and the Chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee-General Fund, the State Finance Director, and the
Legislative Fiscal Officer.
Section 6.The Governor shall notify the Commissioner of
the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the Director of Finance, and all
persons listed in Section 5(b) of his or her decision to
release funds in the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund. The
Governor shall include the maximum amount of funds from the
Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund that may be released.
Section 7.At the end of fiscal year 2024, and at the
end of every fiscal year thereafter, the unencumbered balance
of both the Medicaid State General Fund Account, Account No.
0106, and the Medicaid State General Fund Carryforward
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Account, Account No. 0110, that was not appropriated in a
future budget, shall be transferred to the Medicaid Emergency
Reserve Fund no later than November 15 of the following fiscal
year. Each year the legislature shall appropriate the
expected carryforward in the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund
back to the fund for use in the next fiscal year. Each year
the legislature shall also appropriate any expected transfers
from both the Medicaid State General Fund Account, Account No.
0106, and the Medicaid State General Fund Carryforward
Account, Account No. 0110, to the Medicaid Emergency Reserve
Fund.
Section 8.(a) In addition to all other appropriations,
there is hereby appropriated $88,000,000 to the Medicaid
Emergency Reserve Fund for the state fiscal year ending
September 30, 2024.
(b) In addition to all other appropriations, there is
hereby appropriated $88,000,000 from the Medicaid Emergency
Reserve Fund to the Alabama Medicaid Agency to be used in
conformity with this Act during the state fiscal year ending
September 30, 2024.
Section 9.The balance in the Medicaid Emergency Reserve
Fund shall not exceed $100,000,000. No transfers may be made
to the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund if the balance is
$100,000,000.
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Section 10.The State Treasurer shall invest the funds
in the Medicaid Emergency Reserve Fund in investments which
are eligible investments for the Alabama Trust Fund as
authorized by Amendment No. 450 and Amendment No. 488 of the
Constitution of Alabama of 1901. All interest earned on the
investment of money in the reserve fund shall be credited to
the State General Fund. The State Treasurer shall receive no
fees or compensation for his or her work in complying with
this provision.
Section 11. This act shall be effective upon its
passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise
becoming law.
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