The General Fund Availability Statement of the House budget states that General Fund appropriations are $20.3 billion. This sum is paid with revenues from taxes, fees, transfers from other funds, and other miscellaneous income sources. What the $20.3 billion does not include, however, are the new positions and programs funded with receipts (federal funds, fees collected by agencies that do not go into the General Fund, tuition payments, etc.), not to mention the existing programs whose budgets have been shifted from the General Fund to other sources.
The House budget includes the following items funded from other revenue sources:
>From the Escheat (Unclaimed Property) Fund:
The Escheat Fund is the state’s holding fund for unclaimed property; the money belongs to citizens who have not yet claimed property owed to them. The money is invested by the state treasurer, and the state is allowed to spend the interest earned on low-interest loans and aid for college. Some budget provisions allow the state to spend part of the principal of the Escheat Fund, as long as the balance does not fall below $400 million. As of June 30, 2006, the fund balance was just over $522 million.
Across State Agencies:
In Education:
In Health & Human Services:
In Natural & Economic Resources:
In General Government:
Use of the Escheat Fund, federal grants, and agency fees allows the state to grow government without increasing the General Fund budget. Down the road, receipt-supported positions and programs may come back to haunt the General Assembly. For instance, federal grants commonly provide a few years of support to get a program started, but then expect the state to pick up the tab to continue the program. For this reason, the General Assembly tends to approve time-limited positions if the funding is from a grant with a limited duration. When the money runs out, however, this doesn’t stop the agencies from requesting that the state step in. In the Justice and Public Safety section of the House budget, for example, legislators have authorized more than $2 million to replace expiring federal funds: three Guardian ad Litem positions ($210,656), two Department of Correction staff positions ($155,680), law enforcement warehouse rental ($136,175), and 20 positions for Flood Plain Mapping ($1.7 million).
Overall, receipts and sources such as the Escheat Fund comprise approximately $156 million in additional spending: $30 million in new receipts from federal funds, tuition increases, and fee increases; and $126 million from the Escheat Fund for higher education financial aid. This spending is in addition to the $20.3 billion General Fund budget, the $1.8 billion Highway Fund and $1.1 billion Highway Trust Fund budgets, as well as continued spending authorized in previous years from federal and other receipt sources.
[Editor's Note: This brief was originally published on May 16, 2007]