143C-6-2. Methods to avoid deficit.

(a) Appropriations. - Each appropriation is maximum and conditional. The expenditures authorized by an appropriation from a fund shall be made only if necessary and only if the aggregate revenues to the fund during each fiscal year of the biennium, when added to any unreserved fund balance from the previous fiscal year, are sufficient to support the expenditures.

(b) Revenue Collections. - The Director, with the assistance of the Secretary of Revenue and other officials collecting or receiving appropriated State revenue, shall continuously survey the revenue collections. If the Director finds that revenues to any fund, when added to the beginning unreserved fund balance in that fund, will be insufficient to support appropriations from that fund, the Director shall immediately notify the General Assembly that a deficit is anticipated. The Director shall consult with the Chief Justice to identify expenditure reductions and other lawful measures the Chief Justice and Judicial Branch can implement to reduce expenditures. The Director shall report in a timely manner to the General Assembly a plan containing the expenditure reductions and other lawful measures as the Director is implementing in order to avert the deficit.

(c) Local Governments Funds. - In exercising the powers contained in Section 5(3) of Article III of the North Carolina Constitution, the Governor shall not withhold from distribution funds that have been collected by the State on behalf of local governments or funds that the General Assembly has appropriated to local governments unless the Governor has exhausted all other sources of revenue of the State including any appropriated surplus remaining in the treasury at the beginning of the fiscal period.

In accordance with Section 19 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution and the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution, the State is prohibited from taking local tax revenue. This subsection does not authorize the Governor to withhold revenues from taxes levied by units of local governments and collected by the State.