Section X-23: Balanced budget - Procedures.

    The state shall never create or authorize the creation of any debt
or obligation, or fund or pay any deficit, against the state, or any
department, institution or agency thereof, regardless of its form or
the source of money from which it is to be paid, except as may be
provided in this section and in Sections 24 and 25 of Article X of the
Constitution of the State of Oklahoma.
    To ensure a balanced annual budget, pursuant to the limitations
contained in the foregoing, procedures are herewith established as
follows:
    1.  Not more than forty-five (45) days or less than thirty-five
(35) days prior to the convening of each regular session of the
Legislature, the State Board of Equalization shall certify the total
amount of revenue which accrued during the last preceding fiscal year
to the General Revenue Fund and to each Special Revenue Fund
appropriated directly by the Legislature, and shall further certify
amounts available for appropriation which shall be based on a
determination, in accordance with the procedure hereinafter provided,
of the revenues to be received by the state under the laws in effect
at the time such determination is made, for the next ensuing fiscal
year, showing separately the revenues to accrue to the credit of each
such fund of the state appropriated directly by the Legislature.
    Amounts certified as available for appropriation from each fund,
as hereinbefore provided, shall be ninety-five percent (95%) of an
itemized estimate made by the State Board of Equalization, which shall
include all sources of revenue to each fund for the next ensuing
fiscal year; provided however, appropriated federal funds shall be
certified for the full amount of the estimate.  Said estimate shall
consider any increase or decline in revenues that would result from
predictable changes in the economy.
    Legislative appropriations for any fiscal year, except for special
appropriations provided for in paragraph 4, shall be limited to a sum
not to exceed the total amount appropriated from all funds in the
preceding fiscal year, plus twelve percent (12%), adjusted for
inflation for the previous calendar year.  Said limit shall be
adjusted for funds not previously appropriated.  The limit on the
growth of appropriations shall be certified to by the State Board of
Equalization.
    2.  Such certification shall be filed with the Governor, the
President and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives.  The Legislature shall not pass or enact
any bill, act or measure making an appropriation of money for any
purpose until such certification is made and filed, unless the State
Board of Equalization has failed to file said certification at the
time of convening of said Legislature.  In such event, it shall be the
duty of the Legislature to make such certification pursuant to the
provisions of this section.  All appropriations made in excess of such
certification shall be null and void; provided, however, that the
Legislature may at any regular session or special session, called for
that purpose, enact laws to provide for additional revenues or a
reduction in revenues, other than ad valorem taxes, or transferring
the existing revenues or unappropriated cash on hand from one fund to
another, or making provisions for appropriating funds not previously
appropriated directly by the Legislature.  Whereupon, it shall be the
duty of the State Board of Equalization to make a determination of the
revenues that will accrue under such laws and ninety-five percent
(95%) of the amount of any increase or decrease resulting, for any
reason, from such changes in laws shall be added to or deducted from
the amount previously certified available for appropriation from each
respective fund, as the case may be.  The State Board of Equalization
shall file the amount of such adjusted certification, or additional
certification for funds not previously appropriated directly by the
Legislature, with the Governor, with the President and President Pro
Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and such adjusted amount shall be the maximum amount
which can be appropriated for all purposes from any such fund for the
fiscal year being certified.
    3.  The State Board of Equalization shall meet within five (5)
days after the monthly apportionment in February of each year, and at
that time may adjust the certification, based upon the most current
information available, and determine the amount of funds available for
appropriation for that legislative session.  At said meeting the Board
shall determine the limit on the growth of appropriations as provided
for in this section.
    4.  Surplus funds or monies shall be any amount accruing to the
General Revenue Fund of the State of Oklahoma over and above the
itemized estimate made by the State Board of Equalization.
    Beginning July 1, 1985, all such surplus funds or monies accruing
after said date shall be placed in a Constitutional Reserve Fund by
the State Treasurer until such time that the amount of said Fund
equals ten percent (10%) of the General Revenue Fund certification for
the preceding fiscal year.  Appropriations made from said Fund shall
be considered special appropriations.
    Up to one-half (1/2) of the balance at the beginning of the
current fiscal year in the said Fund may be appropriated for the
forthcoming fiscal year, when the certification by the State Board of
Equalization for said forthcoming fiscal year General Revenue Fund is
less than that of the current fiscal year certification.  In no event
shall the amount of monies appropriated from said Reserve Fund be in
excess of the difference between the two said certifications.
    Up to one-half (1/2) of the balance at the beginning of the
current fiscal year in the said Fund may be appropriated, upon a
declaration by the Governor that emergency conditions exist, with
concurrence of the Legislature by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the House
of Representatives and Senate for the appropriation; or said one-half
(1/2) could be appropriated upon a joint declaration of emergency
conditions by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
President Pro Tempore of the Senate, with a concurrence of a
three-fourths (3/4) vote of the House of Representatives and Senate.
    5.  That portion of every appropriation, at the end of each fiscal
year, in excess of actual revenues collected and allocated thereto, as
hereinafter provided, shall be null and void.  Revenues deposited in
the State Treasury to the credit of the General Revenue Fund or of any
special fund (which derives its revenue in whole or in part from state
taxes or fees) shall, except as to principal and interest on the
public debt, be allocated monthly to each department, institution,
board, commission or special appropriation on a percentage basis, in
that ratio that the total appropriation for such department,
institution, board, commission or special appropriation from each fund
for that fiscal year bears to the total of all appropriations from
each fund for that fiscal year, and no warrant shall be issued in
excess of said allocation.  Any department, institution or agency of
the state operating on revenues derived from any law or laws which
allocate the revenues thereof to such department, institution or
agency shall not incur obligations in excess of the unencumbered
balance of cash on hand.
    6.  The Legislature shall provide a method whereby appropriations
shall be divided and set up on a monthly, quarterly or semiannual
basis within each fiscal year to prevent obligations being incurred in
excess of the revenue to be collected, and notwithstanding other
provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature shall provide that
all appropriations shall be reduced to bring them within revenues
actually collected, but all such reductions shall apply to each
department, institution, board, commission or special appropriation
made by the State Legislature in the ratio that its total
appropriation for that fiscal year bears to the total of all
appropriations from that fund for that fiscal year; provided, however,
that the Governor may in his discretion issue deficiency certificates
to the State Treasurer for the benefit of any department, institution
or agency of the state, if the amount of such deficiency certificates
be within the limit of the current appropriation for that department,
institution or agency, whereupon the State Treasurer shall issue
warrants to the extent of such certificates for the payment of such
claims as may be authorized by the Governor, and such warrants shall
become a part of the public debt and shall be paid out of any money
appropriated by the Legislature and made lawfully available therefor;
provided further, that in no event shall said deficiency certificates
exceed in the aggregate the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars
($500,000.00) in any fiscal year.
    Upon the approval by the people of this state of the amendment to
this section contained in House Joint Resolution No. 1005 of the 1st
Session of the 40th Legislature, the State Board of Equalization shall
meet to recertify the amount of revenue available for appropriation
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1986.