15-38-202. Investment of resource indemnity trust fund — expenditure — minimum balance. (1) All money paid into the resource indemnity trust fund must be invested at the discretion of the board of investments. Only the net earnings, excluding unrealized gains and losses, may be appropriated and expended until the fund balance, excluding unrealized gains and losses, reaches $100 million. After the fund balance reaches $100 million, all net earnings, excluding unrealized gains and losses, and all receipts may be appropriated by the legislature and expended, provided that the fund balance, excluding unrealized gains and losses, may never be less than $100 million.

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Terms Used In Montana Code 15-38-202

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Department: means department of revenue. See Montana Code 15-38-103
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
  • Mineral: means any precious stones or gems, gold, silver, copper, coal, lead, petroleum, natural gas, oil, uranium, talc, vermiculite, limestone, or other nonrenewable merchantable products extracted from the surface or subsurface of the state of Montana. See Montana Code 15-38-103
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(2)(a) At the beginning of each fiscal year, there is allocated from the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund:

(i)$3.2 million to be deposited in the natural resources projects state special revenue account, established in 15-38-302, for the purpose of making grants;

(ii)$300,000 to be deposited in the ground water assessment account established in 85-2-905;

(iii)$500,000 to the department of fish, wildlife, and parks for the purposes of 87-1-283. The future fisheries review panel shall approve and fund qualified mineral reclamation projects before other types of qualified projects.

(b)At the beginning of each biennium, there is allocated from the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund:

(i)$650,000 to be deposited in the oil and gas production damage mitigation account pursuant to the conditions of 82-11-161;

(ii)$500,000 to be deposited in the water storage state special revenue account created by 85-1-631; and

(iii)$175,000 to be deposited in the environmental contingency account established in 75-1-1101.

(c)The remainder of the interest income is allocated as follows:

(i)Sixty-five percent of the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund must be allocated to the natural resources operations state special revenue account established in 15-38-301.

(ii)Twenty-six percent of the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund must be allocated to the hazardous waste/CERCLA special revenue account provided for in 75-10-621.

(iii)Nine percent of the interest income of the resource indemnity trust fund must be allocated to the environmental quality protection fund provided for in 75-10-704.

(3)Any formal budget document prepared by the legislature or the executive branch that proposes to appropriate funds other than as provided for by the allocations in subsection (2) must specify the amount of money from each allocation that is proposed to be diverted and the proposed use of the diverted funds. A formal budget document includes a printed and publicly distributed budget proposal or recommendation, an introduced bill, or a bill developed during the legislative appropriation process or otherwise during a legislative session.