SLS 23RS-325 REENGROSSED
2023 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 3
BY SENATORS CORTEZ, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, BARROW, BERNARD,
BOUDREAUX, BOUIE, CARTER, CATHEY, CONNICK,
DUPLESSIS, FESI, FIELDS, FOIL, HARRIS, HENSGENS, HEWITT,
JACKSON, KLEINPETER, LAMBERT, LUNEAU, MCMATH,
MILLIGAN, FRED MILLS, ROBERT MILLS, MIZELL, MORRIS,
POPE, PRICE, REESE, SMITH, TALBOT, TARVER AND WHITE
FISCAL CONTROLS. Provides for the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 and
Fiscal Year 2023-2024. (2/3-CA7s10)
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To direct the commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year
3 2022-2023 and Fiscal Year 2023-2024.
4 WHEREAS, the expenditure limit was authorized by the Legislature and ratified by
5 the electors of the state of Louisiana in 1990 to provide stability and ensure fiscal
6 responsibility in a time of great uncertainty in state revenues in concert with other budgetary
7 reforms, including the codification of the creation of the Revenue Estimating Conference,
8 balanced budget requirements and procedures for mitigating a projected or year-end deficit
9 into the state constitution; and
10 WHEREAS, the expenditure limit was intended to restrain growth in the ordinary
11 expenditures of the state by coordinating the growth in the state's expenditures to the growth
12 in the drivers of state revenues and to achieve this outcome the legislature provided for a
13 mechanism to change the expenditure limit in times of unprecedented growth of state
14 resources; and
15 WHEREAS, since 2006, the expenditure limit has permanently been rebased
16 downward twice and, conversely, it has never been used for ordinary operating expenses and
17 has only been increased for specific purposes on two occasions, in 2007 and 2008; and
18 WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 10 of the Louisiana Constitution specifically limits
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SLS 23RS-325 REENGROSSED
1 the expenditure of nonrecurring revenues to six purposes: (1) the retiring or defeasance of
2 debt; (2) payments toward the unfunded accrued liability of the state retirement systems; (3)
3 capital outlay projects in the comprehensive state capital budget; (4) deposits into the Budget
4 Stabilization Fund; (5) deposits into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund; and (6)
5 new highway construction for which federal funds are available; and
6 WHEREAS, increasing the expenditure limit in 2023 for the use of surplus and
7 excess revenue on one-time investments in infrastructure and deferred maintenance will not
8 increase future expenditure obligations; and
9 WHEREAS, failure to increase the expenditure limit to address the numerous
10 backlogs, infrastructure needs, highway projects, and other capital priorities across the state
11 will produce constraints on future operating expenses; and
12 WHEREAS, the state's higher education institutions have a backlog of deferred
13 maintenance projects totaling approximately $1.8 billion, of which $360 million is needed
14 to fund the projects the universities place as a priority, $121.8 million is the cost of the most
15 pressing projects on that priority list, and $5.6 million in demolition needs to remove
16 unusable buildings; and
17 WHEREAS, transportation construction projects could be jeopardized without the
18 approval of the funding requested in 2023 for fully funding the projects authorized during
19 the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 legislative session; and
20 WHEREAS, Louisiana's ports are economic engines for their local communities and
21 the entire state, and investments in the infrastructure of the ports across the state provides
22 both local and state returns many times over; and
23 WHEREAS the current needs of the Port Priority Program total $166.7 million with
24 the estimated benefits of these projects totaling $2.2 billion to the local communities and $3
25 billion to the state; and
26 WHEREAS, protecting and restoring the coastal resources of the state is of extreme
27 importance, in terms of citizen safety, recreation, and enjoyment as well as wildlife
28 habitation and land retention, the Legislature has appropriated in addition to the state's
29 ongoing coastal master plan expenditures, supplemental funding of $150 million in the
30 current fiscal year and $157 million recommended for Fiscal Year 2023-24 for various river
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SLS 23RS-325 REENGROSSED
1 studies, restoration partnerships, and construction projects for levees, pump stations, marsh
2 creation, shoreline protection, lock structures, canal backfilling, and breakwaters; and
3 WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the importance of lowering homeowner's
4 insurance premiums for Louisiana residents through supporting the Insure Louisiana
5 Incentive Fund and the Louisiana Fortify Homes Fund; and
6 WHEREAS, the Legislature also recognizes the importance of ensuring the Louisiana
7 Water Systems are safe, effective, and resilient; and
8 WHEREAS, the expenditure limit provided for in Article VII, Section 10(C)(1) for
9 Fiscal Year 2022-2023 is established as Fifteen Billion Eight Hundred Eighty-Nine Million
10 Two Hundred Sixty-Three Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Two and No/100
11 ($15,889,263,342.00) Dollars; and
12 WHEREAS, the expenditure limit provided for in Article VII, Section 10(C)(1) for
13 Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is established as Sixteen Billion Four Hundred Ninety-Seven Million
14 Seven Hundred Twenty-One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Two and No/100
15 ($16,497,721,252.00) Dollars; and
16 WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 10(C)(2) of the Constitution of Louisiana provides
17 that the expenditure limit may be changed in any fiscal year by a favorable vote of two-thirds
18 of the elected members of each house and that any such change in the expenditure limit shall
19 be approved by the passage of a specific legislative instrument which clearly states the intent
20 to change the limit; and
21 WHEREAS, R.S. 39:52.1 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 provides that
22 a change to the expenditure limit shall be made pursuant to a concurrent resolution adopted
23 by a favorable vote of two-thirds of the elected members of each house directing the
24 commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit to a designated amount for
25 a specified fiscal year.
26 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of
27 the elected members of each house concurring, does hereby direct the commissioner of
28 administration to increase the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 by the amount
29 of Five Hundred Million and No/100 ($500,000,000.00) Dollars to change the expenditure
30 limit for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 to Sixteen Billion Three Hundred Eighty-Nine Million Two
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SLS 23RS-325 REENGROSSED
1 Hundred Sixty-Three Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Three and No/100
2 ($16,389,263,343.00) Dollars and to increase the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year
3 2023-2024 by the amount One Billion Eight Hundred Million and No/100
4 ($1,800,000,000.00) Dollars to change the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 to
5 Eighteen Billion Two Hundred Ninety-Seven Million Seven Hundred Twenty-One Thousand
6 Two Hundred Fifty-Two and No/100 ($18,297,721,252.00) Dollars.
7 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the provisions of this Resolution shall not be
8 construed to affect or in any way change the calculation of the expenditure limit for Fiscal
9 Year 2024-2025 and thereafter in accordance with Article VII, Section 10(C) of the
10 Constitution of Louisiana.
The original instrument was prepared by Tracy Sabina Sudduth. The
following digest, which does not constitute a part of the legislative
instrument, was prepared by Dawn Romero Watson.
DIGEST
SCR 3 Reengrossed 2023 Regular Session Cortez
Directs the commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit for FY 2022-
2023 from $15,889,263,342 to $16,389,263,343.
Directs the commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit for FY 2023-
2024 from $16,497,721,252 to $18,297,721,252.
Provides that the calculation of the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, and
thereafter, shall not be affected or changed by the proposed resolution.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate
Senate Floor Amendments to engrossed bill
1. Change the proposed increase in the expenditure limit for FY 2022-2023
from an additional $766,234,416 to an additional $500,000,000.
2. Change the proposed increase in the expenditure limit for FY 2023-2024
from an additional $766,234,416 to an additional $1,800,000,000.
3. Add that proposed resolution shall not effect the calculation of the
expenditure limit for FY 2024-2025.
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