Program in Place: Follow-up on Recommendation Made in Report No. 12-04, Study of the Transfer of Non-General Funds to the General Fund

Report No. 15-03, April 2015 (excerpts)

The Department of the Attorney General’s process for determining the propriety of transfers of non-general funds to the general fund is strengthened through training and a checklist.

The Issue

Non-general funds, such as special, revolving, and trust funds, exist outside the State’s primary operating source, the general fund. Over the past 30 years, the number of non-general funds and the amount of money within them have substantially increased. In FY2011, nongeneral funds accounted for a little more than half of the State’s $10.2 billion operating budget, up from one-third in 1992. This proliferation of non-general funds has hampered the Legislature’s ability to direct general fund spending.

• At least 729 non-general funds and accounts held an estimated unencumbered cash balance of $2.47 billion in FY2012.

• Between 1980 and 2010, the number of special and revolving funds more than tripled, to 313 funds.

• Fund raids authorized by the Legislature in FY2009, FY2010, and FY2011 totaled $161 million.

Report No.12-04 recommended that the Department of the Attorney General employ a more robust and methodical process of analyzing special and revolving funds for transfer of excess moneys to the general fund, such as using a checklist similar to one that we developed.

We found that the department has developed a non-general fund checklist to help determine the propriety of transfers from a non-general fund to the general fund. The checklist is posted on the department’s intranet website, and is available as a reference to all department deputies. On February 27, 2013, the department conducted department-wide training for deputies whose clients administer non-general funds to familiarize them with the checklist. The training was attended by 41 department deputies. The department reported that no legislative bills to transfer moneys from non-general funds to the general fund were introduced during the 2014 legislative session, so it did not conduct a training session that year.

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2012: Study of the Transfer of Non-general Funds to the General Fund