2014 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 39 - Public Finance
RS 39:98.3 - Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund, the Education Excellence Fund, and the TOPS Fund

§98.3. Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund, the Education Excellence Fund, and the TOPS Fund

A.(1) Appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the Millennium Trust allocated as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(B) and (C) as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference. Amounts determined to be available for appropriation shall be those aggregate investment earnings which are in excess of an inflation factor as determined by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The amount of estimated aggregate investment earnings available for appropriation shall be determined by subtracting the product of the inflation factor multiplied by the amount of aggregate investment earnings for the previous fiscal year from the amount of such estimated aggregate investment earnings. The amount of realized capital gains on investment which may be included in the aggregate earnings available for appropriation from the Millennium Trust in any fiscal year shall not exceed the aggregate of earnings from interest and dividends for that year.

(2)(a) For Fiscal Year 2011-2012 appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the Health Excellence Fund as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(B)(2) and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(b) For Fiscal Year 2012-2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the Health Excellence Fund as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(B)(2) and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference and the amount of proceeds credited to and deposited into the Health Excellence Fund as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(B)(3).

(3)(a) For Fiscal Year 2011-2012, appropriations from the TOPS Fund shall be limited to the amount of Settlement Agreement proceeds credited to and deposited into the TOPS Fund as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(D)(2) and (3), and an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the TOPS Fund as provided by R.S. 39:98.1(D)(2) and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(b) For Fiscal Year 2012-2013, and each fiscal year thereafter, appropriations from the TOPS Fund shall be limited to the amount of annual Settlement Agreement proceeds credited to and deposited into the TOPS Fund as provided in R.S. 39:98.1(D)(2), and an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the TOPS Fund as provided in R.S. 39:98.1(D)(2) and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

(c) For Fiscal Year 2011-2012, and each fiscal year thereafter, amounts determined to be available for appropriation from the TOPS Fund from interest earnings shall be those aggregate investment earnings which are in excess of an inflation factor as determined by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The amount of realized capital gains on investment which may be included in the aggregate earnings available for appropriation in any year shall not exceed the aggregate of earnings from interest and dividends for that year.

(4) Actual earnings from interest, dividends, and capital gains during the fiscal year in excess of the amounts estimated as available for appropriation shall be credited to the appropriate fund and available for appropriation in subsequent years. Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund, the Education Excellence Fund, and the TOPS Fund shall include performance expectations to ensure accountability in the expenditure of such monies.

B. Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be restricted to the following purposes:

(1) Initiatives to ensure the optimal development of Louisiana's children through:

(a) Provision of appropriate health care through the Children's Health Insurance Program established by R.S. 46:976.

(b) Services provided by school-based health clinics, rural health clinics, and primary care clinics.

(c) Early childhood intervention programs targeting children from birth through age four, including programs to reduce infant mortality.

(2) A program of research grants and projects that encourage the pursuit of innovation in advanced health care sciences; such program shall support clinical and laboratory research efforts based in Louisiana universities, as well as institutions represented in the membership of the Medical Education Commission as provided in R.S. 17:1519.8, and shall fund grants for both basic and applied research in advanced health care sciences; such program shall encourage institutional commitment and leveraging of state monies to secure private and federal funds and shall be administered by the Board of Regents through an objective, competitive process subject to peer review. The Board of Regents shall annually submit to the legislature and the governor, not less than forty-five days prior to the beginning of each regular session of the legislature, a proposed program and budget for the expenditure of the funds appropriated to the Board of Regents for these purposes.

(3) Provision of comprehensive chronic disease management services, including outpatient pharmacy for indigent and needy citizens of Louisiana, by the facilities of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, including but not limited to the Health Care Services Division.

C. Appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund shall be restricted as follows:

(1) Fifteen percent of monies available for appropriation in any fiscal year from the Education Excellence Fund shall be appropriated to the state superintendent of education for distribution on behalf of all children attending private elementary and secondary schools that have been approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, both academically and as required for such school to receive money from the state.

(2) Appropriations shall be made each year to the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, the Louisiana Special Education Center in Alexandria, the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and the Louis Armstrong High School for the Arts, after such schools are operational, to provide for a payment to each school of seventy-five thousand dollars plus an allocation for each pupil equal to the average statewide per pupil amount provided each city, parish, and local school system pursuant to Paragraphs (4) and (5) of this Subsection.

(3) Appropriations may be made for independent public schools which have been approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education or any city, parish, or other local school system, and alternative schools and programs which are authorized and approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and are not subject to the jurisdiction and management of any city, parish, or local school systems to provide for an allocation for each pupil, which shall be the average statewide per pupil amount provided in each city, parish, or local school system pursuant to Paragraphs (4) and (5) of this Subsection.

(4) Beginning Fiscal Year 2000-2001 and for each fiscal year through the end of Fiscal Year 2006-2007, of the monies available for appropriation after providing for the purposes enumerated in Paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of this Subsection, the following appropriations shall be made to the state superintendent of education for distribution as follows:

(a) Thirty percent of the funds available to be divided equally among each city, parish, and other local school system.

(b) Seventy percent of the funds available to be divided among each city, parish, and other local school system in amounts which are proportionate to each school's share of the total state share of the Minimum Foundation Program appropriation as contained in the most recent Minimum Foundation Program budget letter approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

(5) Beginning Fiscal Year 2007-2008 and for each year thereafter, of the monies available for appropriation after providing for the purposes enumerated in Paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of this Subsection, one hundred percent of the monies available for appropriation in any fiscal year from the Education Excellence Fund shall be distributed to each city, parish, or other local school system, to be apportioned to the recipient entities on a pro rata basis which is based on the ratio of the student population of that school or school system to that of the total state student population.

(6) Monies appropriated pursuant to this Subsection shall be restricted to expenditure for prekindergarten through twelfth grade instructional enhancement for students, including early childhood education programs focused on enhancing the preparation of at-risk children for school, remedial instruction and assistance to children who fail to achieve the required scores on any tests passage of which are required pursuant to state law or rule for advancement to a succeeding grade, or other educational programs approved by the legislature. Expenditures for maintenance or renovation of buildings, capital improvements, and increases in employee salaries are prohibited. The state superintendent of education shall be responsible for receiving and allocating all money due private schools.

(7) Each recipient school or school system shall annually prepare and submit to the state Department of Education, hereinafter the "department", a prioritized plan for expenditure of funds it expects to receive in the coming year from the Education Excellence Fund. The plan shall include performance expectations to ensure accountability in the expenditure of such monies. The department shall review such plans for compliance with the requirements of this Subsection and to assure that the expenditure plans will support excellence in educational practice. No funds may be distributed to any school system until its plan has been approved by the department and by the appropriate standing committees of the legislature.

(8) No amount appropriated as required in this Subsection shall displace, replace, or supplant appropriations from the general fund for elementary and secondary education, including implementing the Minimum Foundation Program. This Paragraph shall mean that no appropriation for any fiscal year from the Education Excellence Fund shall be made for any purpose for which a general fund appropriation was made the previous year unless the total appropriations for the fiscal year from the state general fund for such purpose exceeds general fund appropriations of the previous year. Nor shall any money allocated to a city or parish school board pursuant to this Section displace, replace, or supplant locally generated revenue, meaning that no allocation to any city or parish school board from the investment earnings attributable to the Education Excellence Fund shall be expended for any purpose for which a local revenue source was expended the previous fiscal year unless the total of the local revenue amount expended that fiscal year exceeds the total of such local revenue amounts for the previous year.

(9) The treasurer shall maintain within the state treasury a record of the amounts appropriated and credited for each entity through appropriations authorized in this Subsection and which remain in the state treasury. Such amounts, and investment earnings attributable to such amounts, shall remain to the credit of each recipient entity at the close of each fiscal year. The treasurer is authorized to honor warrants drawn for withdrawal of such monies, inclusive of fund balances and interest earnings, from any individual school or school district account subject to the requirements of Article VII, Section 10.8(C)(3)(g) of the Constitution of Louisiana.

D. Appropriations from the TOPS Fund shall be restricted to support of the state's program for financial assistance for students attending Louisiana institutions of postsecondary education as established in Chapter 20-G of Title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.

E. Recommendations and requests for expenditure or funding from the Health Excellence Fund and TOPS Fund shall be made in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 39:98.4(C) through (F).

Acts 1999, No. 1295, §1, eff. July 1, 2000; Acts 2001, No. 765, §4, eff. June 26, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 872, §1, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 11, §1, eff. May 15, 2003; Acts 2004, No. 21, §1; Acts 2011, No. 386, §1, eff. Nov. 21, 2011.