Legislative Finance Committee

With gubernatorial vetoes, the General Appropriation Act of 2021 appropriates $7.44 billion from the general fund for the recurring expenses of operating state government, public schools, and colleges and universities in FY22. The total represents a 5.4 percent increase over FY21.

General fund recurring revenues for FY21 through December were $3.785 billion, down $99.3 million, or 2.6 percent, from the same period a year ago. December collections were up 26.2 percent from December 2019, primarily due to a delay in tax refunds. Gross receipts tax collections for December were down $15.2 million, or 5.5 percent from December last year.

With Senate amendments, the proposed General Appropriation Act of 2021 would total $7.436 billion, a 4.8 percent increase over the adjusted operating budget for the current fiscal year.

General fund revenues for FY21 through November were down 8.5 percent from the same period a year ago, and November collections were down 11.2 percent from November 2019, with gross receipts tax collections down 11.2 percent and personal income tax collections down 9.8 percent.

General fund recurring revenues for FY21 through October were $2.39 billion, down 7.9 percent from the same period a year ago. Monthly collections for October collections were 14.5 percent from October 2019.

The committee substitute for the General Appropriation Act would appropriate, with the feed bill, a total of $7.39 billion for FY22, an increase of 4.6 percent over the current budget year with much of the $332 million increase used to restore general fund dollars to costs temporarily covered with federal funds.

Recurring revenues for FY21 are estimated at $7.194 billion, a decline of $666 million, or 8.5 percent, from FY20. However, the estimates for FY21 and FY22 are more optimistic than in the December forecast, primarily because of recovering oil prices and the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines on the economy.

General fund recurring revenues for FY21 through September were $1.853 billion, down $96 million, or 5.2 percent, from the same period a year ago, with monthly collections for September at $576.2 million, down $52.4 million, or 8.3 percent, from September 2020.