2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
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
AND REPRESENTATIVES BAGLEY, BOYD, BRASS, BRYANT,
CARRIER, WILFORD CARTER, FISHER, FREEMAN, GREEN,
HUGHES, JEFFERSON, JENKINS, TRAVIS JOHNSON, JORDAN,
KNOX, LAFLEUR, LANDRY, LARVADAIN, MARCELLE, MOORE,
NEWELL, PIERRE, SELDERS, STAGNI, THOMPSON AND
WILLARD
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To direct the commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year
2022-2023 and Fiscal Year 2023-2024.
WHEREAS, the expenditure limit was authorized by the Legislature and ratified by
the electors of the state of Louisiana in 1990 to provide stability and ensure fiscal
responsibility in a time of great uncertainty in state revenues in concert with other budgetary
reforms, including the codification of the creation of the Revenue Estimating Conference,
balanced budget requirements and procedures for mitigating a projected or year-end deficit
into the state constitution; and
WHEREAS, the expenditure limit was intended to restrain growth in the ordinary
expenditures of the state by coordinating the growth in the state's expenditures to the growth
in the drivers of state revenues and to achieve this outcome the legislature provided for a
mechanism to change the expenditure limit in times of unprecedented growth of state
resources; and
WHEREAS, since 2006, the expenditure limit has permanently been rebased
downward twice and, conversely, it has never been used for ordinary operating expenses and
has only been increased for specific purposes on two occasions, in 2007 and 2008; and
WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 10 of the Louisiana Constitution specifically limits
the expenditure of nonrecurring revenues to six purposes: (1) the retiring or defeasance of
debt; (2) payments toward the unfunded accrued liability of the state retirement systems; (3)
capital outlay projects in the comprehensive state capital budget; (4) deposits into the Budget
Stabilization Fund; (5) deposits into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund; and (6)
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new highway construction for which federal funds are available; and
WHEREAS, increasing the expenditure limit in 2023 for the use of surplus and
excess revenue on one-time investments in infrastructure and deferred maintenance will not
increase future expenditure obligations; and
WHEREAS, failure to increase the expenditure limit to address the numerous
backlogs, infrastructure needs, highway projects, and other capital priorities across the state
will produce constraints on future operating expenses; and
WHEREAS, the state's higher education institutions have a backlog of deferred
maintenance projects totaling approximately $1.8 billion, of which $360 million is needed
to fund the projects the universities place as a priority, $121.8 million is the cost of the most
pressing projects on that priority list, and $5.6 million in demolition needs to remove
unusable buildings; and
WHEREAS, transportation construction projects could be jeopardized without the
approval of the funding requested in 2023 for fully funding the projects authorized during
the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 legislative session; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana's ports are economic engines for their local communities and
the entire state, and investments in the infrastructure of the ports across the state provides
both local and state returns many times over; and
WHEREAS the current needs of the Port Priority Program total $166.7 million with
the estimated benefits of these projects totaling $2.2 billion to the local communities and $3
billion to the state; and
WHEREAS, protecting and restoring the coastal resources of the state is of extreme
importance, in terms of citizen safety, recreation, and enjoyment as well as wildlife
habitation and land retention, the Legislature has appropriated in addition to the state's
ongoing coastal master plan expenditures, supplemental funding of $150 million in the
current fiscal year and $157 million recommended for Fiscal Year 2023-24 for various river
studies, restoration partnerships, and construction projects for levees, pump stations, marsh
creation, shoreline protection, lock structures, canal backfilling, and breakwaters; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the importance of lowering homeowner's
insurance premiums for Louisiana residents through supporting the Insure Louisiana
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Incentive Fund and the Louisiana Fortify Homes Fund; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature also recognizes the importance of ensuring the Louisiana
Water Systems are safe, effective, and resilient; and
WHEREAS, the expenditure limit provided for in Article VII, Section 10(C)(1) for
Fiscal Year 2022-2023 is established as Fifteen Billion Eight Hundred Eighty-Nine Million
Two Hundred Sixty-Three Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Two and No/100
($15,889,263,342.00) Dollars; and
WHEREAS, the expenditure limit provided for in Article VII, Section 10(C)(1) for
Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is established as Sixteen Billion Four Hundred Ninety-Seven Million
Seven Hundred Twenty-One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Two and No/100
($16,497,721,252.00) Dollars; and
WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 10(C)(2) of the Constitution of Louisiana provides
that the expenditure limit may be changed in any fiscal year by a favorable vote of two-thirds
of the elected members of each house and that any such change in the expenditure limit shall
be approved by the passage of a specific legislative instrument which clearly states the intent
to change the limit; and
WHEREAS, R.S. 39:52.1 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 provides that
a change to the expenditure limit shall be made pursuant to a concurrent resolution adopted
by a favorable vote of two-thirds of the elected members of each house directing the
commissioner of administration to change the expenditure limit to a designated amount for
a specified fiscal year.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of
the elected members of each house concurring, does hereby direct the commissioner of
administration to increase the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 by the amount
of Two Hundred Fifty Million and No/100 ($250,000,000) Dollars to change the expenditure
limit for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 to Sixteen Billion One Hundred Thirty-Nine Million Two
Hundred Sixty-Three Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Two and No/100
($16,139,263,342.00) Dollars and to increase the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year
2023-2024 by the amount of One Billion Four Hundred Million and No/100
($1,400,000,000.00) Dollars to change the expenditure limit for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 to
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Seventeen Billion Eight Hundred Ninety-Seven Million Seven Hundred Twenty-One
Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Two and No/100 ($17,897,721,252.00) Dollars.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the provisions of this Resolution shall not be
construed to affect or in any way change the calculation of the expenditure limit for Fiscal
Year 2024-2025 and thereafter in accordance with Article VII, Section 10(C) of the
Constitution of Louisiana.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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