Limits the amount of state general fund that may be appropriated in a fiscal year (OR SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)

House Bill 824 creates a new statutory framework establishing a government growth limit that restricts annual appropriations of recurring revenue from the State General Fund (Direct). The bill adds R.S. 39:33.3 and amends existing provisions in R.S. 39:34(C), 38(B), and 54(C) to integrate this growth limit into the state's budgeting process. The growth limit is calculated annually by the Revenue Estimating Conference and equals the prior fiscal year's recurring State General Fund appropriations (the base) plus the base multiplied by a growth factor, unless the growth factor is negative, in which case the growth limit equals the base alone. The growth factor is determined by combining Louisiana's average population change over the prior five calendar years with the average of the United States' average chained-consumer price index changes and chained-consumer medical care price index changes over the same period. Any recurring revenue recognized in the official forecast that exceeds the growth limit but remains below the existing expenditure limit must be appropriated only for nonrecurring expenses, defined as those not expected to be necessary in approximately the same amounts each year.

The bill affects the governor, the commissioner of administration, the Revenue Estimating Conference, and the legislature in their respective budgetary roles. The commissioner of administration must calculate and submit the growth limit calculation to the Revenue Estimating Conference annually, and the conference chairman must submit the adopted limit to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget by the executive budget submission deadline. The governor's executive budget recommendations cannot exceed either the expenditure limit or the growth limit for recurring revenue, and any proposal to exceed either or both limits must be submitted as a separate document from the executive budget. The legislature's appropriations authority is constrained by the requirement that all appropriations from the state general fund and dedicated funds conform to the growth limit restrictions, meaning that growth in recurring appropriations cannot outpace the combination of Louisiana's population growth and national inflation rates unless revenues exceed the expenditure limit and are designated for nonrecurring purposes.

The bill operates within Louisiana's existing constitutional and statutory expenditure limit framework established under Article VII of the Constitution and implemented through Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The growth limit functions as a secondary constraint on recurring appropriations, layered beneath the existing expenditure limit that applies to total appropriations. The bill specifies exceptions to the growth limit for funds from the Budget Stabilization Fund, funds from certain means of financing substitutions that compensate for decreases in federal or other dedicated funding, and funds excluded from expenditure limit analysis. The bill's effectiveness is conditioned on the adoption and effectiveness of a related constitutional amendment that originated as a House Bill in the 2026 Regular Session, meaning the statutory framework becomes operative only if Louisiana voters approve the corresponding constitutional change at a statewide election.