"Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to authorize the Legislature to create an economic stabilization and endowment fund?"

The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within the corresponding square below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the returns and, if it appears that a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of the amendment, the Governor shall proclaim that fact without delay and the amendment becomes part of the Constitution of Maine on the date of the proclamation; and be it further

Secretary of State shall prepare ballots. Resolved: That the Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this resolution necessary to carry out the purpose of this referendum.

SUMMARY

This resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of Maine to authorize the Legislature to create a budget stabilization and endowment fund. This fund would be established in lieu of the unprotected Maine Rainy Day Fund as a constitutionally protected asset of the State with explicit fund contribution requirements and distribution limitations.

The purposes of an economic stabilization and endowment fund would be to serve as a permanent endowment fund of the State with an asset base of that grows over time and provides supporting distributions for programs and initiatives of State Government in perpetuity; as an economic stabilization fund that provides supplementary distributions to the State during budget years of economic stagnation and recession; and as an emergency liquidity fund that provides short-term distributions to the State when revenues fall unexpectedly short of budgeted projections.

The fund would be built up through monthly transfers of 2% of the General Fund revenue in any year in which the fund balance does not exceed the amount of revenue collected in the immediately preceding fiscal year and by a transfer of 1/2 of any General Fund surplus revenue.