Disaster Emergency Fund Changes

Plain English Breakdown

The official status indicates the bill is enacted, but no specific effective date was listed in the provided metadata or text.

Disaster Emergency Fund Changes

This law requires new reporting on closed disasters, sets deadlines for closing disaster accounts, and limits the amount of unused money allowed in the state's disaster emergency fund.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Office of State Planning and Budgeting to list closed-out disasters and transferred unencumbered money in its quarterly reports to the Joint Budget Committee.
• Sets a deadline of 3 years to close federally declared disasters and 8 years for state-only disasters.
• Limits the maximum amount of unused money allowed in the disaster emergency fund to $200,000,000 per year.
• Directs officials to move any money over that limit into the general fund starting after August 12, 2026, and on June 30 each year thereafter.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Office of State Planning and Budgeting
• The Joint Budget Committee

Limits and Unknowns

• The official text does not specify an effective date.
• The source does not define what counts as a 'state-only' disaster versus a federally declared one.

Official Summary Text

The act makes the following changes to the disaster emergency fund:
Requires the office of state planning and budgeting (office) to include in its quarterly reports to the joint budget committee an identification of disasters that have been closed out and the amount of unencumbered money that the office has transferred back to its original source;
Institutes a timeline for closing out a disaster based on the type of disaster, 3 years for a federally declared disaster or 8 years for a state-only disaster; and
Limits the annual maximum unencumbered balance of the disaster emergency fund to $200,000,000 and directs the office to transfer money in excess of that amount to the general fund after August 12, 2026, and on June 30 each year thereafter.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)