South Carolina § 11-11-310 - General Reserve Fund; deficit.

§ 11-11-310. General Reserve Fund; deficit.

(A) The State Fiscal Accountability Authority shall provide for a General Reserve Fund. Funds accumulating in excess of the annual operating expenditures must be transferred to the General Reserve Fund and the transfer must continue to be made in succeeding fiscal years until the accumulated total in this reserve reaches an amount equal to the applicable percentage amount of the general fund revenue of the latest completed fiscal year.

(B) If there is a year-end operating deficit, so much of the General Reserve Fund as is necessary must be used to cover the deficit. The amount so applied must be restored to the General Reserve Fund out of future revenues as provided in Section 36, Article III of the Constitution of this State and out of funds accumulating in excess of annual operating expenditures as provided in this section until the applicable percentage amount is reached and actually maintained.

(C) In the event of a year-end operating deficit, so much of the reserve fund as may be necessary must be used to cover the deficit, and the amount must be restored to the reserve fund within five fiscal years out of future revenues until the applicable percentage amount required to be transferred to the General Reserve Fund, is reached and maintained. Provided, that a minimum of one percent of the general fund revenue of the latest completed fiscal year, if so much is necessary, must be restored to the reserve fund each year following the deficit until the applicable percentage amount required by general law to be transferred to the General Reserve Fund, is restored.

(D) For purposes of this section "applicable percentage amount" means seven percent of general fund revenue of the latest completed fiscal year. The seven percent requirement shall be reached by adding a cumulative one-half of one percent of such revenue in each fiscal year succeeding the last fiscal year to which the five percent limit applied until the percentage of such revenue equals seven percent which then and thereafter shall apply.

HISTORY: 1977 Act No. 219, Part II, SECTION 12; 1978 Act No. 644, Part II, SECTION 36; 1983 Act No. 151, Part II, SECTION 56; 1984 Act No. 487, SECTION 2; 1985 Act No. 201, Part II, SECTIONS 21, 34; 1986 Act No. 540, Part II, SECTION 47; 1988 Act No. 385, SECTION 1; 2010 Act No. 152, SECTION 1.A., eff May 8, 2012; 2022 Act No. 238 (H.3346), SECTION 1, eff February 28, 2023.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, SECTION 5(D)(1), effective July 1, 2015.

Editor's Note

2010 Act No. 152, SECTION 1.B., provides:

"This section takes effect upon ratification of an amendment to Section 36, Article III of the Constitution of this State authorizing its terms submitted to the electors of this State at the general election of 2010 and first applies for the state fiscal year beginning after that date."

2022 Act No. 238, SECTION 3(A), provides as follows:

"SECTION 3. (A) The provisions of SECTION 1 of this act take effect upon the ratification of an amendment to Section 36(A), Article III of the Constitution of this State raising the general reserve fund from five percent of general fund revenue of the latest completed fiscal year to seven percent of such revenues in the manner provided in the section and first applies to the state fiscal year beginning thereafter."

The amendment was ratified on February 28, 2023, in 2023 Act No. 5 (S.381), SECTION 1.A.

Effect of Amendment

The 2010 amendment, in subsection (A), substituted "the applicable percentage amount" for "three percent"; in subsection (B), substituted "the applicable percentage amount is reached" for "three percent maximum is again reached"; and added subsections (C) and (D).

2022 Act No. 238, SECTION 1, in (D), substituted "seven percent" for "five percent" in three places, and, in the second sentence, substituted "five percent" for "three percent".