BILL NO. 40

1st Session, 57th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
47 Elizabeth II, 1998

Private Member's Bill

Expenditure Control Act
(amended)

John F. Hamm, M.D.
Pictou Centre

First Reading: October 22, 1998

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

This Bill provides that

(a) the amounts payable to members of the Executive Council as remuneration for service as a member of the Executive Council shall be reduced where the amount of expenditures in a fiscal year exceeds revenues in the fiscal year in a manner not authorized by the Expenditure Control Act; and

(b) where there is a deficit in a fiscal year, the Government is not in violation of the Act to the extent that the deficit is the result of expenditures related to a natural disaster or war.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Chapter 4 of the Acts of 1993, the Expenditure Control Act, as amended by Chapter 5 of the Acts of 1996 and Chapter 3 of the Acts of 1997, is further amended by adding immediately after Section 13 the following Sections:

14 (1) Where, in respect of a fiscal year ending after March 31, 1998, the third-quarter financial report projects that the amount appropriated by the Legislature for net program expenditures and net debt servicing costs will exceed the amount of revenue estimated by the Minister for that fiscal year in a manner not authorized by this Act, the amount payable to each member of the Executive Council as remuneration for service as a member of the Executive Council, for the twelve-month period commencing on April 1st of the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year to which the third-quarter financial report relates, shall be reduced by

(a) twenty per cent, in a case where expenditures did not exceed revenues in a manner not authorized by this Act in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which the report relates; or

(b) forty per cent, in a case where expenditures exceeded revenues in a manner not authorized by this Act in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year to which the report relates.

(2) Where the audited financial statements of the Consolidated Fund of the Province for a fiscal year show that the Government is in compliance with this Act and amounts have been deducted from amounts payable to members of the Executive Council in connection with that fiscal year pursuant to subsection (1), the amounts so deducted shall be refunded to the members of the Executive Council.

(3) Where in respect of a fiscal year ending after March 31, 1998, the audited financial statements of the Consolidated Fund of the Province show that the amount appropriated by the Legislature for net program expenditures and net debt servicing costs exceeded the amount of revenue estimated by the Minister for that fiscal year in a manner not authorized by this Act, and no amount is being deducted from amounts payable to members of the Executive Council pursuant to subsection (1) in connection with that fiscal year, the amount payable to each member of the Executive Council as remuneration for service as a member of the Executive Council, for the twelve-month period commencing on April 1st of the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year to which the statements relate, shall be reduced by

(a) twenty per cent, in a case where expenditures did not exceed revenues in a manner not authorized by this Act in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year to which the statements relate; or

(b) forty per cent, in a case where expenditures exceeded revenues in a manner not authorized by this Act in the fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year to which the statements relate.

(4) The reduction required by subsection (3) may be prorated over the months that remain in the fiscal year after the publication of the audited financial statements of the Consolidated Fund of the Province.

(5) A reduction in the amount payable to a member of the Executive Council pursuant to this Section applies only during the period when the person serves as a member of the Executive Council.

(6) A reduction in the amount payable to members of the Executive Council pursuant to this Section applies on a prorated basis to any new member of the Executive Council appointed during the period of the reduction.

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Section, where there is a general election and the party forming the Government after the election is different from the party forming the Government before the election, this Section does not apply until the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the general election is held.

15 Where the amount appropriated by the Legislature for net program expenditures and net debt servicing costs exceeds the amount of revenue estimated by the Minister for that fiscal year in a manner not authorized by this Act, the Government shall not be considered to be in violation of this Act to the extent that the resulting deficit is a result of either or both of the following:

(a) an expenditure required in the fiscal year as a result of a natural or other disaster in the Province that could not have been anticipated and affects the Province or a region of the Province in a manner that is of urgent public concern;

(b) an expenditure required in the fiscal year because Canada is at war or under apprehension of war.