ARTICLE 2

RELATING TO STATE FUNDS

SECTION 1. Section 16-59-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-59 entitled “Council on

Postsecondary Education” is hereby amended to read as follows:

16-59-9. Educational budget and appropriations. [Effective February 1, 2020.]

(a) The general assembly shall annually appropriate any sums it deems necessary for

support and maintenance of higher education in the state and the state controller is authorized and

directed to draw his or her orders upon the general treasurer for the payment of the appropriations

or so much of the sums that are necessary for the purposes appropriated, upon the receipt by him

or her of proper vouchers as the council on postsecondary education may by rule provide. The

council shall receive, review, and adjust the budget for the office of postsecondary commissioner

and present the budget as part of the budget for higher education under the requirements of § 35-3-

4.

(b) The office of postsecondary commissioner and the institutions of public higher

education shall establish working capital accounts.

(c) Any tuition or fee increase schedules in effect for the institutions of public higher

education shall be received by the council on postsecondary education for allocation for the fiscal

year for which state appropriations are made to the council by the general assembly; provided that

no further increases may be made by the board of education or the council on postsecondary

education for the year for which appropriations are made. Except that these provisions shall not

apply to the revenues of housing, dining, and other auxiliary facilities at the university of Rhode

Island, Rhode Island college, and the community colleges including student fees as described in

P.L. 1962, ch. 257 pledged to secure indebtedness issued at any time pursuant to P.L. 1962, ch. 257

as amended.

(d) All housing, dining, and other auxiliary facilities at all public institutions of higher

learning shall be self-supporting and no funds shall be appropriated by the general assembly to pay

operating expenses, including principal and interest on debt services, and overhead expenses for

the facilities, with the exception of the mandatory fees covered by the Rhode Island promise

scholarship program as established by § 16-107-3. Any debt-service costs on general obligation

bonds presented to the voters in November 2000 and November 2004 or appropriated funds from

the Rhode Island capital plan for the housing auxiliaries at the university of Rhode Island and

Rhode Island college shall not be subject to this self-supporting requirement in order to provide

funds for the building construction and rehabilitation program. The institutions of public higher

education will establish policies and procedures that enhance the opportunity for auxiliary facilities

to be self-supporting, including that all faculty provide timely and accurate copies of booklists for

required textbooks to the public higher educational institution's bookstore.

(e) The additional costs to achieve self-supporting status shall be by the implementation of

a fee schedule of all housing, dining, and other auxiliary facilities, including but not limited to,

operating expenses, principal, and interest on debt services, and overhead expenses.

(f) The board of education is authorized to establish a restricted-receipt account for the

higher education and industry centers established throughout the state to collect lease payments

from occupying companies, and fees from room and service rentals, to support the operation and

maintenance of the facilities. All such revenues shall be deposited to the restricted-receipt account.

The board of education is further authorized to establish a restricted receipt account within the

general fund of the state to account for the receipt and expenditure of any funds donated,

bequeathed, or otherwise granted in support of the construction, maintenance, or general operations

of the higher education and industry centers established throughout the state.

(g) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (d) of this section or any provisions of this title, to

the extent necessary to comply with the provisions of any outstanding bonds issued by the Rhode

Island health and educational building corporation or outstanding lease certificates of participation,

in either case, issued for the benefit of the university of Rhode Island, the community college of

Rhode Island, and/or Rhode Island college, to the extent necessary to comply with the provisions

of any such bonds or certificates of participation, the general assembly shall annually appropriate

any such sums it deems necessary from educational and general revenues (including, but not limited

to, tuition) and auxiliary enterprise revenues derived from the university of Rhode Island, the

community college of Rhode Island and Rhode Island college, to be allocated by the council on

postsecondary education or by the board of trustees of the university of Rhode Island, as

appropriate, in accordance with the terms of the contracts with such bondholders or certificate

holders.

(h) The board of education is authorized to establish a restricted receipt account within the

general fund of the state for income generated by the Rhode Island nursing education center through

the rental of classrooms, laboratories, or other facilities located on the Providence campus of the

nursing education center. All such revenues shall be deposited to the restricted receipt account.

SECTION 2. Sections 21-28.10-8 and 21-28.10-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 21-

28.10 entitled, “Opioid Stewardship Act” are hereby amended to read as follows:

21-28.10-8. Departmental annual reporting.

By January of each calendar year, the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental

disabilities and hospitals (BHDDH), the executive office of health and human services (EOHHS),

the department of children, youth and families (DCYF), the Rhode Island department of education

(RIDE), the Rhode Island office of veterans' services, the department of corrections (DOC), and

the department of labor and training (DLT), and any other department or agency receiving opioid

stewardship funds shall report annually to the governor, the speaker of the house, and the senate

president which programs in their respective departments were funded using monies from the

opioid stewardship fund and the total amount of funds spent on each program.

21-28.10-10. Creation of opioid stewardship fund.

(a) There is hereby established, in the custody of the department, a restricted-receipt

account to be known as the "opioid stewardship fund."

(b) Monies in the opioid stewardship fund shall be kept separate and shall not be

commingled with any other monies in the custody of the department.

(c) The opioid stewardship fund shall consist of monies appropriated for the purpose of

such account, monies transferred to such account pursuant to law, contributions consisting of

promises or grants of any money or property of any kind or value, or any other thing of value,

including grants or other financial assistance from any agency of government and monies required

by the provisions of this chapter or any other law to be paid into or credited to this account.

(d) Monies of the opioid stewardship fund shall be available to provide opioid treatment,

recovery, prevention, education services, and other related programs, subject to appropriation by

the general assembly.

(e) The budget officer is hereby authorized to create restricted receipt accounts entitled

“opioid stewardship fund allocation” in any department or agency of state government wherein

monies from the opioid stewardship fund are appropriated by the general assembly for the

programmatic purposes set forth in subsection (d) of this section.

SECTION 3. Section 35-3-24 of the General Laws in Chapter 35-3 entitled “State Budget”

is hereby amended to read as follows:

35-3-24. Control of state spending.

(a) All department and agency heads and their employees are responsible for ensuring that

financial obligations and expenditures for which they have responsibility do not exceed amounts

appropriated and are spent in accordance with state laws.

(b) Persons with the authority to obligate the state contractually for goods and services

shall be designated in writing by department and agency heads.

(c) In the event of an obligation, encumbrance, or expenditure in excess of general revenue

amounts appropriated, the department or agency head with oversight responsibility shall make a

written determination of the amount and the cause of the overobligation or overexpenditure, the

person(s) responsible, and corrective actions taken to prevent reoccurrence. The plan of corrective

actions contained within the report shall detail an appropriate plan to include, but not limited to,

such issues as the implementation of waiting lists, pro-rata reduction in payments and changes in

eligibility criteria as methods to address the shortfall. The report will be filed within thirty (30)

days of the discovery of the overobligation or overexpenditure with the budget officer, the

controller, the auditor general, and the chairpersons of the house and senate finance committees.

(d) In the event a quarterly report demonstrates an obligation, encumbrance, or expenditure

in excess of general revenue amounts appropriated in total to the department, the department or

agency head with oversight responsibility shall file monthly budget reports with the chairpersons

of the house and senate finance committees for the remainder of the fiscal year. The monthly budget

reports shall detail steps taken towards corrective actions and other measures to bring spending in

line with appropriations. In addition, the budget officer and controller shall ensure that the

department's or agency's obligations, encumbrances, and expenditures for the remainder of the

fiscal year result in the department or agency ending the fiscal year within amounts appropriated.

(e) The controller shall not authorize payments from general revenue for additional staff,

contracts, or purchases beyond service levels provided in the previous fiscal year or one-time

purchases of equipment or supplies for any department or agency not projected to end a fiscal year

within amounts appropriated unless the payments are necessitated by immediate health and safety

reasons or to be consistent with a corrective action plan, which shall be documented upon discovery

and reported, along with anticipated or actual expenditures, to the chairpersons of the house and

senate finance committees within fifteen (15) days.

(f) A state employee who has knowingly and willingly encumbered, obligated, or

authorized the expenditure of state funds in excess of amounts appropriated for those purposes or

entered into contracts without proper authorization may be placed on disciplinary suspension

without pay for up to thirty (30) days in accordance with § 36-4-36.

(g) A state employee who knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly authorizes actions resulting

in encumbrances or spending of state funds in excess of amounts appropriated may be fined up to

one thousand dollars ($1,000) and/or terminated from employment.

(h) Upon receipt of any budgetary information indicating an obligation, encumbrance, or

expenditure in excess of the amounts appropriated, the chairperson of the house or senate finance

committee may request a written report to be submitted by the director of administration within ten

(10) calendar days. The report shall indicate if the obligation, encumbrance, or expenditure in

excess of the amounts appropriated resulted in any disciplinary action or other penalty in

accordance with subsection (f) or (g) of this section. If not, the report shall explain why no

disciplinary action or other penalty was imposed in accordance with subsection (f) or (g).

SECTION 4. Sections 35-4-22.1, 35-4-22.2 and 35-4-27 of the General Laws in Chapter

35-4 entitled “State Funds” are hereby amended to read as follows:

35-4-22.1. Legislative appropriation authority.

(a) An appropriation is an enactment by the General Assembly authorizing the withdrawal

of money from the State treasury. An enactment by the General Assembly that authorizes, specifies,

or otherwise provides that funds may be used for a particular purpose is not an appropriation.

(a) (b) No agency shall establish new programs, or expand existing programs, including

any program involving nonstate monies, beyond the scope of those already established, recognized,

and appropriated for by the general assembly until the program and the availability of money is

submitted by the agency to the budget officer for recommendation to the general assembly.

(b) (c) No state agency may make expenditures of any restricted or special revenue funds,

whether these monies are received prior to expenditure or as reimbursement, unless these

expenditures are made pursuant to specific appropriations of the general assembly.

(d) Additional general revenue shall be deemed to be appropriated in order to:

(i) Comply with a court order,

(ii) Respond to a declared state of emergency,

(iii) Finance programs covered under the caseload estimating conference process set forth

in chapter 35-17 up to the officially adopted estimates in the current fiscal year when the current

appropriations act does not meet the revised estimate subject to the following conditions:

(1) Appropriations are made up to current fiscal year revenue availability as agreed to in

the revenue estimating conference process.

(2) If there is less revenue availability than the additional caseload need, Medical

Assistance and Federally mandated programs are prioritized for additional appropriations and the

remainder of the additional availability is proportionally assigned to the remaining caseload

programs.

(e) If the General Assembly enacts changes to the current year appropriations act, those changes

shall override subdivision (iii) of subsection (d) of this section.

35-4-22.2. Use of restricted or special revenue funds.

(a) Any restricted or special revenue funds which are received by a state agency which is

not otherwise appropriated to that state agency by the annual appropriation acts of the regular

session of the general assembly are hereby appropriated for that state agency for the purpose set

forth, except that no expenditure shall be made from and no obligation shall be incurred against

any restricted receipts or special revenue fund which has not been previously appropriated or

reappropriated or approved by the governor, the speaker of the house, and the president of the

senate, until that authorization has been transmitted to the state agency to make expenditure

therefrom.

(b) State agencies desiring the governor's approval to expend or obligate receipts not

appropriated or reappropriated by the general assembly in the annual appropriation act or

supplemental appropriation act shall forward a request to the state budget officer, who shall forward

a copy to the speaker of the house and the president of the senate.

(c) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the budget officer is hereby authorized to

create restricted receipt accounts within the budget of any state agency to account for the receipt

and expenditure of either privately donated funds from individuals or corporate entities, funds

received from any nonprofit charitable organization qualifying for exemption under section 501 (c)

(3) of the internal revenue code, the proceeds of a multistate settlement administered by the office

of the attorney general, and funds received pursuant to a contract or memorandum of agreement

with a department of another state that are restricted to a specific, time-limited purpose.

Expenditures from these accounts shall remain subject to the provisions of §§ 35-4-22, 35-4-22.1,

35-4-22.2 and 35-4-27.

(d) There are hereby established within the general fund of the state five (5) restricted

receipt accounts, three (3) of which are designated as “UHIP Recovery” and two (2) of which are

designated as “UHIP Recovery: Non-UHIP Expenses” for the express purpose of the collection and

disbursement of all cash settlements received by the state from any business concern engaged in

the information technology project known as the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (“UHIP”).

Accounts designated as “UHIP Recovery” shall each be housed within the budgets of the

department of administration, the department of human services, and the executive office of health

and human services. Accounts designated as “UHIP Recovery: Non-UHIP Expenses” shall be

housed in the budget of the department of human services. All restricted-receipt accounts

established in this subsection shall be exempt from the indirect cost recovery provisions of § 35-4-

27.

(e) Upon the directive of the controller, with the consent of the auditor general, the budget

officer is hereby authorized to convert any escrow liability account to a restricted receipt account

whenever such conversion has been deemed prudent and appropriate by both the auditor general

and the controller according to generally accepted governmental accounting principles and/or

specific pronouncements of the governmental accounting standards board (GASB).

35-4-27. Indirect cost recoveries on restricted receipt accounts.

Indirect cost recoveries of ten percent (10%) of cash receipts shall be transferred from all

restricted-receipt accounts, to be recorded as general revenues in the general fund. However, there

shall be no transfer from cash receipts with restrictions received exclusively: (1) From contributions

from non-profit charitable organizations; (2) From the assessment of indirect cost-recovery rates

on federal grant funds; or (3) Through transfers from state agencies to the department of

administration for the payment of debt service. These indirect cost recoveries shall be applied to all

accounts, unless prohibited by federal law or regulation, court order, or court settlement. The

following restricted receipt accounts shall not be subject to the provisions of this section:

Executive Office of Health and Human Services

Organ Transplant Fund

HIV Care Grant Drug Rebates

Health System Transformation Project

Health Spending Transparency and Containment Account

Department of Human Services

Veterans' home – Restricted account

Veterans' home – Resident benefits

Pharmaceutical Rebates Account

Demand Side Management Grants

Veteran's Cemetery Memorial Fund

Donations – New Veterans' Home Construction

Department of Health

Pandemic medications and equipment account

Miscellaneous Donations/Grants from Non-Profits

State Loan Repayment Match

Healthcare Information Technology

State-Control Adult Use Marijuana

Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals

Eleanor Slater non-Medicaid third-party payor account

Hospital Medicare Part D Receipts

RICLAS Group Home Operations

State-Control Adult Use Marijuana

Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Emergency and public communication access account

Department of Environmental Management

National heritage revolving fund

Environmental response fund II

Underground storage tanks registration fees

De Coppet Estate Fund

Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission

Historic preservation revolving loan fund

Historic Preservation loan fund – Interest revenue

Department of Public Safety

E-911 Uniform Emergency Telephone System

Forfeited property – Retained

Forfeitures – Federal

Forfeited property – Gambling

Donation – Polygraph and Law Enforcement Training

Rhode Island State Firefighter's League Training Account

Fire Academy Training Fees Account

State-Control Adult Use Marijuana

Attorney General

Forfeiture of property

Federal forfeitures

Attorney General multi-state account

Forfeited property – Gambling

Department of Administration

OER Reconciliation Funding

Health Insurance Market Integrity Fund

RI Health Benefits Exchange

Information Technology Investment Fund

Restore and replacement – Insurance coverage

Convention Center Authority rental payments

Investment Receipts – TANS

OPEB System Restricted Receipt Account

Car Rental Tax/Surcharge-Warwick Share

Executive Office of Commerce

Housing Resources Commission Restricted Account

Housing Production Fund

Department of Revenue

DMV Modernization Project

Jobs Tax Credit Redemption Fund

Legislature

Audit of federal assisted programs

Department of Children, Youth and Families

Children's Trust Accounts – SSI

Military Staff

RI Military Family Relief Fund

RI National Guard Counterdrug Program

Treasury

Admin. Expenses – State Retirement System

Retirement – Treasury Investment Options

Defined Contribution – Administration - RR

Violent Crimes Compensation – Refunds

Treasury Research Fellowship

Business Regulation

Banking Division Reimbursement Account

Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner Reimbursement Account

Securities Division Reimbursement Account

Commercial Licensing and Racing and Athletics Division Reimbursement Account

Insurance Division Reimbursement Account

State-Control Adult Use Marijuana

Historic Preservation Tax Credit Account

Judiciary

Arbitration Fund Restricted Receipt Account

Third-Party Grants

RI Judiciary Technology Surcharge Account

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Statewide Student Transportation Services Account

School for the Deaf Fee-for-Service Account

School for the Deaf – School Breakfast and Lunch Program

Davies Career and Technical School Local Education Aid Account

Davies – National School Breakfast & Lunch Program

School Construction Services

Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner

Higher Education and Industry Center

Department of Labor and Training

Job Development Fund

SECTION 5. Section 42-75-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-75 entitled “Council on

the Arts” is hereby amended to read as follows:

42-75-8. Authority of commission.

The commission is authorized and empowered to hold public and private hearings, to enter

into contracts, within the limit of funds available for these contracts, with individuals,

organizations, and institutions for services furthering the objectives of the commission's programs;

to enter into contracts, within the limit of funds available for these contracts, with local and regional

associations for co-operative endeavors furthering the objectives of the commission's programs; to

accept gifts, contributions, and bequests of unrestricted funds from individuals, foundations,

corporations, and other organizations or institutions which shall be deposited as general revenues;

to make and sign any agreements and to do and perform any acts that may be necessary to carry

out the purposes of this act. The commission may request and shall receive from any department,

division, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the state any assistance and data that will enable

it properly to carry out its powers and duties. The commission may empanel any advisors that it

deems necessary.

SECTION 6. This article shall take effect upon passage.