143C-6-1. Budget enacted by the General Assembly; certified budgets of State agencies.

(a) Governor to Administer the Budget as Enacted by the General Assembly. - In accordance with Section 5(3) of Article III of the North Carolina Constitution, the Governor shall administer the budget as enacted by the General Assembly. All appropriations of State funds now or hereafter made to the State agencies and non-State entities authorize expenditures only for the (i) purposes or programs and (ii) objects or line items enumerated in the Recommended State Budget and the Budget Support Document recommended to the General Assembly by the Governor, as amended and enacted by the General Assembly in the Current Operations Appropriations Act or any other act affecting the State budget. The Governor shall ensure that appropriations are expended in strict accordance with the budget enacted by the General Assembly.

(b) Departmental Receipts. - Departmental receipts collected to support a program or purpose shall be credited to the fund from which appropriations have been made to support that program or purpose. A State agency shall expend departmental receipts first, including receipts in excess of the amount of receipts budgeted in the certified budget for the program or purpose, and shall expend other funds appropriated for the purpose or program only to the extent that receipts are insufficient to meet the costs anticipated in the certified budget.

Except as authorized in G.S. 143C-6-4, excess departmental receipts shall not be used to increase expenditures for a purpose or program.

(c) Certification of the Budget. - The Director of the Budget shall certify to each State agency the amount appropriated to it for each program and each object from all funds included in the budget as defined in G.S. 143C-3-5(d). The certified budget for each State agency shall reflect the total of all appropriations enacted for each State agency by the General Assembly in the Current Operations Appropriations Act and any other act affecting the State budget. The certified budget for each State agency shall follow the format of the Budget Support Document as modified to reflect changes enacted by the General Assembly.