Bill Text: MS HB35 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: IHL; continue annual deposits into Ayers Settlement Fund for 10 years and end reductions to Ayers Endowment Trust.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - Referred To Appropriations E;Appropriations A [HB35 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-HB35-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Appropriations E; Appropriations A
By: Representative Scott
House Bill 35
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-103-203, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF THE INTEREST EARNED EACH FISCAL YEAR ON THE SUMS IN THE WORKING CASH-STABILIZATION RESERVE FUND MUST BE DEPOSITED INTO THE AYERS SETTLEMENT FUND FOR THE NEXT TEN FISCAL YEARS; TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT TO MAKE ANNUAL REDUCTIONS IN THE AYERS ENDOWMENT TRUST AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT HAS BEEN DEPOSITED INTO THE AYERS SETTLEMENT FUND UNDER THIS SECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 37-101-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 27-103-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-103-203. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund, separate and apart from any other fund, to be designated the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund.
(2) The Working Cash-Stabilization
Reserve Fund shall not be considered as a surplus or available funds when
adopting a balanced budget as required by law. The State Treasurer shall
invest all sums in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund not needed for
the purposes provided for in this section in certificates of deposit,
repurchase agreements and other securities as authorized in Section 27-105-33(d)
or Section 7-9-103, as the State Treasurer may determine to yield the highest
market rate available. * * * If the Ayers Settlement Fund is created under Section 37‑101‑27(5)
Through June 30, 2035, the first Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000.00) of
interest earned on those sums each fiscal year shall be deposited into * * * the Ayers
Settlement Fund created under Section 37-101-27(5). The interest, or the
remaining interest * * *
after the deposit of interest into the Ayers Settlement Fund * * *, that is earned on those sums shall
be deposited in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund until the balance
of principal and interest in the fund reaches ten percent (10%) of the total
General Fund appropriations for the current fiscal year, and all interest
earned in excess of amounts necessary to maintain the ten percent (10%) fund
balance requirement shall be deposited by the State Treasurer into the State
General Fund.
(3) The Working Cash-Stabilization
Reserve Fund, except for Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000.00) and the
amount of the interest and income earned on the principal of the Ayers
Endowment Trust created by Section 37-101-27, shall be used by the State
Treasurer for cash flow needs throughout the year when the Executive Director
of the Department of Finance and Administration certifies that in his opinion
there will be cash flow deficiencies in the State General Fund. No borrowing
of monies from other special funds for such purposes as authorized by Section
31-17-101 et seq., shall be made as long as an unencumbered balance in excess
of Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000.00) and the interest and income earned
on the principal of the Ayers Endowment Trust created by Section 37-101-27
remains in the fund. The State Treasurer shall reimburse the fund for all sums
borrowed for those purposes from General Fund revenues collected during the
fiscal year in which those funds are used. The State Treasurer shall
immediately notify the Legislative Budget Office and the State Department of
Finance and Administration of each transfer into and out of the fund. Fifteen
Million Dollars ($15,000,000.00) in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund
shall remain available for exclusive use of the Ayers Endowment Trust created
by Section 37-101-27. * * *
(4) The Working Cash-Stabilization
Reserve Fund, except for Forty Million Dollars ($40,000,000.00), shall also be
used for the purpose of covering any projected deficits that may occur in the
General Fund at the end of a fiscal year as a result of revenue shortfalls. If
the Governor determines that a deficit in revenues from all sources may occur,
it shall be the duty of the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and
Administration to transfer such funds as necessary to the General Fund to
alleviate the deficit in accordance with Sections 27-104-13 and 31-17-123;
however, not more than Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000.00) may be
transferred from the fund for that purpose in any one (1) fiscal year.
(5) The Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund also shall be used to provide funds for the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund when those funds are immediately needed to provide for disaster assistance under Sections 33-15-301 through 33-15-317. Any transfer of funds from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund to the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund shall be made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (5) of Section 33-15-307.
(6) The Department of Finance and Administration shall immediately send notice of any transfers made, or other action taken under authority of this section, to the Legislative Budget Office.
(7) Funds deposited in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund shall be used only for the purposes specified in this section, and as long as the provisions of this section remain in effect, no other expenditure, appropriation or transfer of funds in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund shall be made except by act of the Legislature making specific reference to the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund as the source of those funds.
(8) Any funds appropriated from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall lapse into the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund.
SECTION 2. Section 37-101-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-101-27. (1) There is created within the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund in the State Treasury a trust to be known as the Ayers Endowment Trust, which shall be used as provided in this section. On July 1, 1997, Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000.00) in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund shall be set aside and placed in the Ayers Endowment Trust.
(2) The principal of the Ayers Endowment Trust shall remain inviolate within the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund, and shall be invested in the same manner as the remainder of the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund.
(3) The interest and income earned from the investment of the principal of the Ayers Endowment Trust shall be appropriated by the Legislature to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the benefit of Jackson State University, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University, the historically black institutions of higher learning in Mississippi, with one-third (1/3) of the amount of the interest and income earned being allocated for the benefit of each of those universities. The money allotted for each university shall be used for continuing educational enhancement and racial diversity, including recruitment of white students and scholarships for white applicants.
(4) The creation of the
Ayers Endowment Trust and the appropriation of the interest and income for the
purposes specified in this section shall be * * *
to provide Mississippi Valley State University with an equal amount of funding
for the same purposes as for the other historically black institutions of higher
learning.
(5) * * * There
shall be created in the State Treasury a fund to be known as the Ayers
Settlement Fund. Monies deposited into the Ayers Settlement Fund under Section
27-103-203(2) shall be appropriated by the Legislature to the Board of Trustees
of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the purpose of establishing a
public endowment for the benefit of Jackson State University, Alcorn State
University and Mississippi Valley State University * * *.
* * *
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
